LEWISTON — A Lewiston man was arrested in New York on Thursday as part of an ongoing police investigation into cocaine trafficking in the downtown area.

Everton Jones, 22, was charged with the federal crime of distribution of crack cocaine. According to court documents, a confidential police informant bought crack from Jones on Shawmut Street in June.

Jones has a criminal history in the area. In 2014, he was arrested on drug charges after police raided a home on Howe Street they said had been the scene of three heroin overdoses in a matter of weeks.

In that raid, at 63-65 Howe St., drug agents said they seized heroin and crack cocaine. Jones was charged with trafficking in scheduled drugs, although the charge was later dismissed in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

The latest charge against Jones comes a day after five people were arrested in downtown Lewiston, each on a charge of distributing crack. The six men are being held in federal custody, each facing up to 20 years in prison.

Local, state and federal police swept through the downtown just before sunrise Wednesday, making arrests after an investigation involving half a dozen agencies.

Charged with distribution of crack cocaine in that sweep were: Sylas “Cali” Way, 44; Elijah Blake, 26; Keon Baptiste-Harris, 35; Jamie Perry, 46; and Davontae “Royale” Perrybrooks, 26.

According to court documents, undercover police and confidential informants have been making undercover purchases of crack from the suspects since December, when police say an informant bought $240 worth of crack from Perry on Bradley Street.

Similar undercover buys from the other suspects were made at addresses on Howe, Shawmut and Bates streets, according to the court documents.

Court officials said the investigation involved Lewiston and Maine State Police, the FBI’s Southern Maine Gang Task Force, U.S. Marshals Service, Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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