AUGUSTA — A Waterville man pleaded guilty Thursday to robbing a man last March in Waterville in what the prosecutor described as a drug-related incident.
Paul A. Bragdon, 36, was one of four people charged with robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery following the March 17, 2016, incident in which a victim reported he was robbed at gunpoint.
On Thursday at the Capital Judicial Center, Bragdon was sentenced to an initial 18 months in prison, with the remainder of the five-year sentence suspended. He was placed on probation for three years.
Bragdon’s attorney, Thomas Tilton, said there was some disagreement about whether a gun was involved. Police did not find one, and Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Russell told Judge Evert Fowle on Thursday that one of the people involved had said Bragdon used his finger in the form of a gun.
Russell said the victim had been supportive of the proposed sentence and did not want to be at the court hearing.
She said the incident involved a deal to get cocaine, and that the victim was robbed of $100, his wallet, a driver’s license and headphones.
“The investigation shows it was done for a drug debt,” Russell said.
In exchange for Bragdon’s plea, a count of conspiracy to commit robbery was dismissed.
Earlier Thursday in the same courthouse, an Orland man was sentenced to an initial four years in prison with an additional three years suspended and three years of probation.
Colton J. Crane, 27, had been found guilty in a jury-waived trail of aggravated trafficking in heroin and unlawful trafficking in cocaine, both March 27, 2015, on Interstate 295 in West Gardiner. He was also fined $800.
According to court filings by Assistant Attorney General Katie Sibley, Maine State Police found drugs that had been concealed inside the car during a traffic stop.
They found 50 bundles of heroin, with each bundle consisting of 10 individual doses of heroin, as well as cocaine.
Sibley said Crane told troopers that he had paid $7,000 to $10,000 for the drugs in Bronx, New York, and had driven back to Maine, expecting to sell all of it within a week.
According to Sibley’s filing, Crane told the police that “a dose of heroin sells for $25 on the islands because the fishermen have a lot of money.”
He also told them he used heroin on the return trip to Maine and that had been selling it for a while.
Crane was represented by attorney Darrick Banda.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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