PORTLAND — A Lewiston man pleaded guilty Thursday to drug and gun charges in U.S. District Court.

Lamar Young, 27, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 28 grams or more of cocaine base, also known as crack cocaine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

According to court records, in late 2012 and early 2013, Young and other individuals sold crack cocaine out of a Lewiston apartment. They bought crack cocaine and cocaine powder from Massachusetts, brought it to Maine, cooked the powder into crack cocaine, packaged it for distribution and sold it.

In March 2014, Young was arrested in a Lewiston apartment. After his arrest, officers found a digital scale and several plastic bags containing cocaine powder and crack cocaine in a dresser drawer in the bedroom. Officers also found a Hi-Point .380 caliber pistol in the bedroom that Young kept to protect the drug operation.

Young faces a five- to 40-year prison sentence and a $5 million fine on the drug conspiracy charge. He faces at least a five-year sentence, to be imposed to run consecutively to his drug conspiracy sentence, and a $250,000 fine on the firearm charge.

He will be sentenced after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.

The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Lewiston Police Department and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

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