August 1, 2002

AUGUST 30, 2002

CONTACT: LARA NOMANI, Assistant Attorney General
207-626-8800

Attorney General Steven Rowe reported today that Craig Hunt, age 43, of Pittsfield was convicted and sentenced yesterday for Trafficking in Cocaine (Class B). An April 19, 2001, police search of Hunt's Pittsfield home yielded over an ounce of cocaine, scales for weighing the drug, and $653 dollars in drug proceeds.

In Somerset County Superior Court, Justice Joseph Jabar sentenced Hunt to serve six years in prison, with all but thirty months suspended. Upon release, Hunt will be on probation for an additional four years. His conditions of probation require him to completely abstain from the use or possession of alcohol, illegal drugs, to agree to random drug searches, and to undergo drug counseling. The drug money was forfeited to the State.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Lara M. Nomani, and was investigated by the Somerset County Sheriff's Office. Nomani stated: "Sadly, cocaine trafficking and abuse is still with us, even in rural Maine. Cocaine is a killer, on par with heroin and prescription pills. Cocaine traffickers can expect to be caught, and when convicted, to be locked up."