PORTLAND — A former Rumford man was sentenced to six and a half years years in prison Thursday for conspiring to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine in Maine and New Hampshire.

Joseph Fall Oxford County Jail photo

Joseph Fall, 40, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to the charge in March.

Prosecutors said that between March 2018 and February 2019, Fall conspired with his wife, Corina, and others to distribute methamphetamine in New Hampshire and Maine.

According to court papers, the rental car in which they were riding March 27, 2018, was stopped by state police in Illinois.

Fall was driving with a suspended license and police said the couple’s individual travel stories didn’t match.

A drug-sniffing dog indicated there were drugs in the car. A search revealed 920 grams or nearly two pounds of methamphetamine in the trunk.

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Fall, who was arrested, told police he and his wife rented a car and drove from Maine to California, where they bought methamphetamine.

He told police he had planned to sell the second bag of the drug in New Hampshire. He was later released on bail after he was charged in Illinois.

On Dec. 13, 2018, an undercover “cooperating individual” bought 3.5 grams of methamphetamine from Fall in New Hampshire at the direction of authorities.

On Feb. 4, 2019, an undercover officer bought 5.6 grams of methamphetamine from Corina Fall at the couple’s Rumford home, according to court records.

On Sept. 9, 2019, Joseph Fall was arrested in New Hampshire on charges of operating after suspension as a habitual offender and possession of controlled drugs.

Fall told police that before his 2018 arrest, he and his wife had made several trips to California to buy methamphetamine to sell in New Hampshire and Maine. He said his wife had grown up in California where she had several contacts from whom they could buy methamphetamine.

Corina Fall is awaiting trial on a similar conspiracy charge, according to court records.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Rumford Police Department, Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, New Hampshire State Police, New Hampshire Attorney General’s Drug Task Force, Carroll County (New Hampshire) Sheriff’s Office and Illinois State Police investigated the case.

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