An Augusta woman faces a federal firearms charge after allegedly buying guns for her drug dealer in Rochester, New York.

Samantha Bailey, 29, is scheduled to make an initial appearance within the next two weeks in U.S. District Court in Bangor. She was summoned to court on the complaint, which accuses her of buying two Taurus 9 mm pistols in February at North Augusta Firearms, and falsely saying she was the actual buyer when she was not.

The complaint, charging her with making false statements to a federal firearms licensee, was filed Monday. The charge carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

An affidavit by Christopher Concannon, special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who investigated the case, said Bailey told him she “was a heroin user and that she had bought the firearms for her drug dealer who was from New York.”

Concannon said Bailey indicated she was told what guns to buy and that two associates of the drug dealer took her to the firearms dealer and one gave her the money for the purchases.

Video surveillance footage shows Bailey completing the paperwork for the purchase, Concannon said. North Augusta Firearms is on Burns Road.

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“Bailey admitted that she had been paid in heroin for purchasing the firearms for her drug dealer,” Concannon wrote in the affidavit, which was filed in the court.

One of the pistols was recovered later when police in Rochester “investigated a domestic disturbance during which her drug dealer reportedly discharged a firearm.” The firearm was recovered from a vehicle, and then the manufacturer’s box for it and the box for the second firearm were recovered when police executed a search warrant at the scene of the May 23 domestic dispute. The affidavit does not indicate that the second firearm was recovered.

The prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Jody Mullis. Attorney Terence Harrigan represents Bailey.

Betty Adams can be contacted at 621-5631 or at:

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: betadams;https


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