PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A Presque Isle man is now facing between 10 years to a lifetime in prison after pleading guilty to drug charges in a federal court this week.
Joel Strother, 41, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice Wednesday.
According to court documents, Strother and others who were prosecuted in the case obtained methamphetamine during trips to western and southern states such as Georgia, Arizona and California, as well as Mexico. He also recruited others to make similar trips and assisted with the distribution of methamphetamine to Aroostook County and other parts of central and northern Maine.
In addition to the 10-year to lifetime prison sentence, Strother is also facing between five years and a lifetime of supervised release and a $10 million fine. He will be sentenced after a pre-sentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.
The investigation leading to Strother’s arrest was conducted by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program, which is a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
