LEWISTON — A federal judge Monday sentenced a local man to 14 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and having a gun while trafficking illegal drugs.

Judge George Z. Singal also sentenced Lamar Young, 28, in U.S. District Court in Portland to five years of supervised release after he is freed from prison.

Young and others sold crack out of a Lewiston apartment in late 2012 and early 2013, according to court records. They were supplied by dealers from Massachusetts.

The drugs were sometimes turned into crack or freebase and packaged for sale once they reached Lewiston, court records said.

In March 2014, Young was arrested in the bedroom of his Lewiston apartment. Authorities found a digital scale and several plastic bags containing powder and crack in a dresser drawer in his bedroom, court records said. Also found in his bedroom was a loaded Hi-Point .280-caliber pistol.

Young had the gun to protect the drugs and himself from anyone seeking to take the drugs from him, authorities said.

He pleaded guilty in federal court in December to the drug and gun charges. He was facing up to 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $5 million on the drug charge.

The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Lewiston Police Department; and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

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