FARMINGTON — A former Connecticut man was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison for selling a mix of fentanyl and heroin and for shooting at a house at 35 Main St. in Jay where a woman resided on April 23, 2020.

Arthur Cohen Franklin County Detention Center photo

Prior to sentencing, Arthur M. Cohen, 36, of Farmington, pleaded guilty in a Farmington court in an Alford plea to felony charges of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs – heroin/fentanyl mix, reckless conduct with a firearm and illegal possession of a firearm. The penalty for the charges ranges from a maximum 30 years in prison to up to five years in prison. He has been at the Franklin County jail since he was arrested. A felony charge of unlawful possession of cocaine was dismissed.

Cohen also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge stemming from an assault of a fellow inmate in February.

The defense disagreed with some of state’s factual summary of evidence, but his attorney, Walter “Woody” Hanstein, said Cohen understood that going to trial meant he could be found guilty.

Deputy District Attorney James Andrews said if the case went to trial, the court would hear testimony from a Jay woman who heard shots being fired. She saw a white vehicle pull out of Otis Street, which runs beside 35 Main St., with a passenger who had a gun in his hands. A Livermore Falls police officer would testify he saw a vehicle matching the description and the front passenger. He conducted a stop on Main Street in Livermore Falls, Andrews said.

Alicia Beck, 36, of Bangor was the driver, and a rear passenger had been picked up after the shooting.

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Andrews said there were two handguns in the vehicle, one in driver’s door console and the other in driver’s possession.

A woman who lived in the second-floor apartment at 35 Main St. was home alone and heard a loud noise. She would testify she thought her crockpot had blown up, Andrews said. One of the three bullets fired into the apartment house crossed her kitchen and lodged in the wall, he said.

One of the other bullets was lodged in the ceiling of the first floor apartment and another one was lodged in a chest freezer on the second-floor, according to Jay police.

The woman’s son, who lived at the house and left on foot prior to the shooting, would testify that he had been selling drugs for Cohen over the past two years, Andrews said. Beck and Cohen picked him up while he was walking toward a store in Livermore Falls.

Jay police would testify they discovered three spent casings at the shooting site. The drugs were found in the Jay police cruiser. It was discovered that Cohen had slipped through the seatbelt at one point. An analysis of the drug packaging matched the DNA of Cohen, Andrews said. An analysis of the heroin/fentanyl mix determined there were 7.05 grams, Andrews said.

Judge Jennifer Archer found Cohen guilty of the charges. She sentenced him to five years in prison on each of the felony charges to be served at the same time, and a $400 fine connected to the drug charge. She also sentenced him to 364 days on the assault charge, also to run concurrent to the felony charges.

Cohen will be given credited for the 369 days he already served.

He was ordered to pay restitution of $5,041 to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in connection to the assault, and $240 in restitution for drug testing Jay Police Department had done. He also has to forfeit the Taurus and Hi-Point 9mm guns.

Beck, who was indicted with Cohen on a charge of reckless conduct with a firearm in February, is scheduled to appear in court in May.

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