A murder suspect from Ohio and two other men were arrested Wednesday afternoon in Augusta, police said, after officers discovered heroin and cocaine at a home on 117 Bridge St.

Police arrested the men after checking on Larry Murphy, 43, of Augusta, who was free on bail after having been arrested earlier on drug trafficking charges, according to a news release from Deputy Chief Jared Mills, of the Augusta Police Department. During the bail check, police discovered 17 grams of heroin and 12 grams of cocaine.

Police arrived at the home around 2:20 p.m. Wednesday. One of the men who was there, 18-year-old Matthew A. Mason II, of Sandusky, Ohio, allegedly ran out of the house, but police stopped him after a short foot chase, Mills said.

There was a warrant for Mason’s arrest on a murder charge from Lorain, Ohio, Mills said, and Augusta police arrested him on a charge of being a fugitive from justice.

Augusta police said they have no information about Mason’s earlier murder charge.

According to a March 23 article in The Chronicle-Telegram, a newspaper in Ohio, police in Lorain issued the warrant for Mason’s arrest after a 19-year-old man was shot fatally there on March 22. Witnesses told police that Mason fled a home after allegedly shooting the man, who was not immediately identified, according to the newspaper.

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In Augusta this week, police also charged Murphy, the man who lived at 117 Bridge St., with two counts of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs, as well as an additional charge of violating bail conditions, Mills said.

Murphy was free on bail after a Nov. 23, 2016 arrest on a charge of aggravated trafficking of schedule drugs, Mills said. He’s now being held without bail at the Kennebec County jail.

Police arrested a third man who was at the home, Trevon Orman, 22, of Sandusky, Ohio, on two counts of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs, Mills said. His bail was set at $10,000 cash and he’s being held at the Kennebec County jail.

An unidentified woman was also at the Augusta home at the time police arrested Mason, Murphy and Orman, but she was not charged with anything Wednesday.

“This investigation is still ongoing and additional charges are likely,” Mills said. “Once again our department received information from the public with the suspicion of illegal drug activity on Bridge Street.”


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