FARMINGTON — A Canadian woman pleaded guilty Thursday to possession of cocaine after the car she was riding in entered Maine with 4.6 pounds of cocaine in the trunk on Nov. 12.

Shanna Brown Franklin County Detention Center photo

Judge Joshua Randlett sentenced Shanna C. Brown, 38, of Cornwall, Ontario, to time served — 144 days — and a $400 fine. With surcharges and fees it totaled $540, Randlett said.

Brown and attorneys were on Zoom during the session. Randlett was in a Farmington courtroom.

Upon her release from the Franklin County jail she will be deported.

Charges of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs, namely cocaine, and illegal importation of scheduled drugs were dismissed in a plea agreement. Brown was indicted on the charges on March 22. She waived indictment on the cocaine possession charge.

Co-defendant Jermaine T. Phillips, 41, of Brampton, Ontario, pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated trafficking in cocaine. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

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The vehicle the couple was in was stopped at the border crossing in Coburn Gore Township in Franklin County by U.S. Border Patrol agents in November, Assistant Attorney General David Fisher said. Agents searched the vehicle with the assistance of a K-9 and discovered powdered cocaine in a suitcase in the trunk. A Maine drug agent field-tested the powder, which was presumptive positive for cocaine hydrochloride, he said.

Brown has been held at the jail in lieu of $100,000 bail since her arrest.

The couple told investigators they were using a GPS and didn’t see that they were entering the United States, according to a Maine Drug Enforcement agent’s affidavit filed in a Farmington court.

Brown faced up to 30 years in prison on the trafficking charge.

A conviction for cocaine possession is punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, up to two years probation and a minimum mandatory $400 fine.

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