Varney to serve four years in prison
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
One of three men arrested in connection with a Dec. 29, 2011, meth bust on Main Street in Presque Isle will spend the next four years in prison.
Ray W. Varney, 23, of Houlton, appeared in Aroostook County Superior Court in July to face the charge of unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs. He received a sentence of eight years in prison, with all but four years suspended. In addition, he must pay a $400 fine, serve three years on probation and pay $1,500 in restitution. He received a 90-day jail term on a separate charge of violating conditions of release.
Trafficking in meth is a Class B felony, which carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.
A search warrant was executed Dec. 29 by MDEA agents at an apartment house almost across the street from the Davis Street intersection. MDEA’s lab team seized chemicals and equipment that reportedly had been used to make methamphetamine using what authorities called a “single container” method.
On Dec. 30, Varney was arrested and charged with trafficking in methamphetamine. Also arrested was Leland Alger, 29, of Presque Isle. An arrest warrant was issued for a third man, 22-year-old Ronald Lewis, of Littleton, who fled the state and was arrested this past July in Topeka, Kansas. Lewis was taken into custody by officers with the U.S. Marshal’s Service. Both Alger and Lewis were also charged with trafficking in meth.
A Sept. 17 Caribou Superior Court date is set for Alger on a motion to revoke bail and a motion to suppress evidence. Lewis is scheduled for a dispositional hearing at Caribou Superior Court on Sept. 27.
