Folsom sentenced
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Michael Folsom, 34, of Presque Isle, will be serving time in federal prison, following his sentencing last week in U.S. District Court in Bangor to seven and a half years for his role in ordering 3,800 oxycodone pills online from Mexican pharmacies, with the intent to sell them to others.
Folsom also received three years of supervised release and was ordered to undergo treatment for addiction to opiates.
Prior to being sentenced, Folsom told Judge John Woodcock he’d been scheduled to enter a treatment facility about two weeks after his June 7, 2011 arrest.
Folsom apologized for his actions and the impact those actions had on others. He told Woodcock his intent was to improve his life from this point forward. Folsom indicated he averaged using more than a dozen oxycodone pills daily by injection, noting at that rate he would have eventually succumbed to the drug.
In October 2011, Folsom waived indictment and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute. He has been in jail since his arrest.
The offense could have brought Folsom a sentence of 20 years in prison and over a million-dollar fine. Under prevailing federal sentencing guidelines, Folsom faced up to 12 and a half years in prison — partly due to his criminal history.
Woodcock noted Folsom has convictions in state court on three operating after suspension charges, two drug trafficking charges and three assault charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Casey requested Folsom serve eight years, due to the fact the day he was arrested, the defendant confessed and took responsibility for his criminal actions. It was because of Folsom’s actions that Woodcock opted to take a few months off the recommended sentence.
Folsom’s defense attorney, Richard Hartley, of Bangor, had asked Woodcock to impose a lesser sentence, but did not specify the length of incarceration he’d recommend.
A Maine Drug Enforcement Agency investigation, with the assistance of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, led to Folsom’s arrest.
