Mars Hill woman
pleads guilty to bath salts charges
MARS HILL, Maine — A 45-year-old Mars Hill woman accused of selling bath salts out of her home waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a federal charge Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor.
She has not yet been sentenced.
United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II said Monday that Leda Giggey pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute bath salts. According to court records, between about January 2012 and June 2014, Giggey conspired with others in Aroostook County to obtain and distribute bath salts. On multiple occasions, Giggey ordered bath salts over the Internet from China for personal use and to sell to other conspirators.
Prosecutors contend that Giggey “knowingly and intentionally joined and participated in the conspiracy.”
Over the course of those dates, according to court documents, Giggey and other bath salt dealers and addicts in Aroostook County obtained bath salts overseas via the Internet and distributed them throughout the state. Members of the conspiracy would pay for the bath salts using Western Union services, credit cards, Green Dot cards or other refillable cash cards. The bath salts would then be delivered to Aroostook County from suppliers in China by U.S. Mail.
An individual identified in court documents as “coconspirator one” testified in court documents to purchasing bath salts over the Internet from China. Had the case gone to trial, prosecutors would have called cooperating witnesses and cooperating defendants to discuss the conspiracy, generally, and Giggey’s role in the conspiracy, specifically.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Maine
Drug Enforcement Agency with assistance from the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Giggey faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. She will be sentenced after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.
