POOL HALL OWNER CONVICTED OF COCAINE TRAFFICKING
July 17, 2001
JULY 17, 2001
CONTACT: Lara M. Nomani, Assistant Attorney General
207-626-8804
Attorney General Steven Rowe announced that Craig Simmons, 34, of Rockland,
Maine pled guilty and was sentenced Monday on two charges of Trafficking
in Cocaine (class B felonies).
Simmons pled guilty before Justice Francis Marsano in the Waldo County
Superior Court. He was sentenced to serve four years in prison, with all
but eight months suspended and was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine. Once
released, Simmons will be on probation for an additional three years.
His conditions of probation will require him to completely abstain from
the use or possession of illegal drugs, to agree to random drug searches
of his person, residence, and motor vehicle, and to undergo drug counseling
to the satisfaction of his probation officer.
The Simmons case was investigated by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency
(MDEA) and was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General and Maine Drug
Task Force Attorney Lara M. Nomani. It follows a series of investigations
into suspected drug trafficking at Homeport Billiards, a Rockland pool
hall and tavern.
In 1998, an MDEA investigation into suspected cocaine trafficking at
Homeport Billiards resulted in the conviction of three individuals for
drug offenses. In 2000, the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement and the
Attorney General assessed Homeport over $1000 in fines because cocaine
had been sold on the premises in violation of Homeport's liquor license.
Also in 2000, the Rockland City Council denied Homeport Billiards a liquor
license. Simmons had denied any knowledge of cocaine trafficking at his
business during the liquor license proceedings. In pleading to the present
charges, he admitted to selling cocaine at Homeport Billiards and to possessing
cocaine at his residence with the intent to traffick.
