Maine Drug Dealer Gets 15 Years

A man from Maine who was stopped by New Hampshire State Police in Hampton in 2012 has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after being found guilty of drug dealing.

Frederick Drane, 47, of Biddeford, Maine, was found guilty in U.S. District Court in Concord on Oct. 27, on one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute in excess of 28 grams of crack cocaine and one count of possessing crack cocaine with the intent to distribute it.

According to state police, on Sept. 12, 2012, a trooper on I-95 in Hampton stopped a vehicle for speeding. While pulling over, the male driver, Drane, switched seats with a female passenger, later identified as Holly Lebo, 32, also of Biddeford, Maine.

The trooper later found out that Drane was driving with a suspended license out of Massachusetts.

During a search of the vehicle, the trooper found two ounces of crack cocaine, marijuana, a scale, bags, and paraphernalia, inside Lebo’s purse. Heroin was also found on the floorboard of the driver’s side of the car. A crack pipe was found in the driver’s side door.

Both were arrested.

During the trial, it was established that Drane “was returning from the Boston area, where he had picked up crack cocaine for subsequent resale in the Biddeford, Maine area” and that he had “asked Lebo to conceal the drugs in her purse to avoid detection by the police.”

The judge weighed Drane’s “extensive criminal history,” which included convictions for unarmed robbery, possession of drugs with the intent to distribute, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and, at the time of the arrest, several active drug-related charges in Maine, in the sentencing decision.

Lebo, according to state police, pled guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute.