PORTLAND — A federal judge has sentenced an Auburn man to nearly six years in prison for trafficking in fentanyl.
John Hansen, 39, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a mixture of substance containing fentanyl, as felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
Hanson pleaded guilty to the crime in January.
He will be on probation for three years after his release from prison.
According to prosecutors, agents became aware of Hansen’s drug dealing after Maine State Police stopped a car on April 28, 2022, in Saco that had come from Massachusetts.
Police recovered more than 400 grams of a substance that tested positive for fentanyl.
Hansen was the intended recipient of the drugs, according to a affidavit in court documents.
He had been on probation for a state drug trafficking conviction at the time of his arrest. He had been sentenced to five years in prison with all but four months of that sentence suspended.
Hanson will serve 42 months — the suspended portion of that state sentence — at the same time he is serving his federal sentence, U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock ordered Thursday.
Woodcock told Hansen it was “rare” for a defendant convicted of drug dealing to come from a “stable, loving and supportive home.”
His father, Michael Hansen, spoke in court Thursday about his son, saying he’d “lost his way,” plagued by drug abuse, made worse by his recent divorce and his separation from his two young daughters.
John Hansen “went off the deep end,” Michael Hansen said of his son, adding he hoped he will learn a trade, overcome his drug addiction and “turn his life around” during his incarceration.
He told his son: “We forgive you” and ” We love you.”
John Hansen was a high school athlete and musician and attended community college, his attorney, Matthew Crocket, said Thursday.
Hansen was honorably discharged from the military after a cancer diagnosis.
His substance abuse began with alcohol, then spiraled into addiction to cocaine, heroin, crystal methamphetamine and, eventually, fentanyl, he told the judge.
He started selling drugs on a small scale to support his habit, but ended up dealing drugs while abusing them daily, he said.
Hansen became “disgusted with myself,” he said, noting the “worst part” was the effect his drug use had on his family.
“It’s not at all how I was raised,” he said, having been “brought up in a loving household.”
He said he’d been battling addiction for about two decades, he said, adding, “I’m very remorseful for the choices I’ve made.”
Woodcock said he had “very, very rarely seen” a child commit a crime against his parents, referring to instances when Hansen had stolen items from his parents.
The judge talked about the scourge of illegal drugs on individuals and their communities.
“You’ve been involved in a nasty, dirty, deplorable business,” Woodcock told Hansen.
“It’s the story of addiction,” Woodcock said. “From all that promise … you managed to turn yourself into a drug dealer.”
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