LEWISTON – Four men were arrested and an estimated $25,000 worth of crack cocaine and heroin seized Monday night when police and drug agents raided a home on Shawmut Street.
Two local men and two others from Brooklyn, N.Y., were arrested after police, acting on information from a recent investigation, went to the apartment about 7 p.m.
Antone Shipman, 24, and Michael Ayer, 19, were each arrested on federal charges of conspiracy to possess and distribute crack and heroin. Shipman lives in the apartment at 45 Shawmut St. where the raid took place, police said. Ayer lives in Lewiston but his current address was not immediately known.
Charles Smith, 21, and Rodney Harrison, 24, both of Brooklyn, were arrested on state charges of aggravated trafficking in crack and heroin.
Lewiston police who first went to the home said they found the group in the process of bagging heroin for redistribution after the pair from New York brought it to Lewiston. By the time the apartment was searched, investigators said they had confiscated roughly 120 grams of crack, 15 grams of heroin, $5,000 in cash and drug paraphernalia.
It was believed to be the biggest drug bust locally in the past year or more. Investigators said the crack that was seized would have been worth $13,000 on the street. The heroin would have garnered up to $12,000, drug officials said.
Lewiston police Officer Wayne Clifford went to the apartment with other officers Monday night after receiving information that drugs were being dealt out of the apartment, police said. After finding crack and heroin inside, Clifford called for help from the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Police and drug agents remained at the apartment until about 10 p.m. Monday, processing the scene and collecting evidence.
Investigators said 84 grams of crack and four grams of heroin were found on Shipman. He and Ayer were both taken to the Cumberland County Jail in Portland, where they were being booked late Monday in a federal ward.
Smith and Harrison were each being held on $25,000 cash bail at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.
Police said the amount of drugs involved in the bust demonstrates the continual appetite for crack and heroin in the Lewiston area. Investigators said the four suspects had planned to package the drugs in useable amounts and sell it in the Twin Cities.
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