FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted Tuesday to accept $147,008 in drug forfeiture money and to disburse a total of $50,402.80 to two other law enforcement agencies that assisted the Sheriff’s Department with a drug bust last year.
The Sheriff’s Department will keep the $93,606.20 for startup equipment and training cost at the jail and for equipment and training for the sheriff’s patrol division. The jail was in the process of being reviewed Wednesday by the state to get a license to reopen to full service. It has been a 72-hour holding facility since the state consolidated the county jails into one system July 1, 2009.
The money comes from one of the largest drug busts in Franklin County in April 2014 at the residence of Daryl “Poochie” Searles, 57, of Avon. He was sentenced in January to 10 years in prison with all but three years suspended and three years of probation, along with a $400 fine and 500 hours of community service on a charge of felony aggravated trafficking of illegal drugs. Sentences on two other felony charges of unlawful trafficking are being served at the same time.
The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency will receive $28,801.60 and Maine State Police will receive $21,601.20 from the forfeiture of money.
Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr. told commissioners Tuesday that he is trying to leave the jail’s reserve account alone as much as possible by using some of the forfeiture money for some startup costs at the jail.
Among those costs is upgrading external security cameras that Nichols said would cost about $15,000. There also may be some costs for renovations at the jail to make it full service that could be covered by some of the money, he said.
Chief Deputy Steven Lowell that the Sheriff’s Department is looking to apply for a $10,000 state grant to upgrade radar units and cruiser cameras. The equipment would need to be bought first and then the state would reimburse two-thirds of that amount, he said.
Lowell said the Sheriff’s Office also has an opportunity to buy two cruiser cameras valued from $8,000 to $9,000 for $2,272.50. That money would also come from the account.
Commissioners voted to approve the spending.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
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