AUGUSTA — A 44-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated furnishing of cocaine for bringing 13 grams of the drug on a bus from New York to Waterville.

Marlin Traynum of Unity, formerly of Clinton, was charged with the offense March 5 at the Waterville police department, where he was taken after he disembarked from the bus, according to Assistant Attorney General Katie Sibley.

In Kennebec County Superior Court on Monday, Sibley said officers arrested Traynum on outstanding warrants for unpaid fines. Officers had earlier received a tip that Traynum was bringing drugs to Maine.

When he was searched at the police station, no drugs were found on him or in his bag. However, he later removed a bag containing 13.5 grams of cocaine from a body cavity, Sibley said.

Traynum is scheduled to be sentenced in two weeks. But attorneys on Monday told Justice Robert Mullen that they had agreed to jointly recommend a 30 month prison term and the mandatory $400 fine.

In a separate case on Monday, Lance Szady, 26, of Augusta admitted a probation violation and pleaded guilty to a new charge of theft by unauthorized taking in connection with the theft of a television from Walmart on March 17 in Augusta.

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Szady’s defense attorney, Lisa Whittier, told Mullen that Szady disputes he went in the store, but realized he could be convicted under theory of accomplice liability.

“The person who stole the TV got into his car,” Whittier said. She also said Szady would be doing the Criminogenic Addiction and Recovery Academy program at the Kennebec County jail during his sentence.

And at a third hearing, Kevin Charles Tardiff, 43, pleaded guilty to eight counts of burglary of a motor vehicle, nine counts of theft by unauthorized taking, and three counts of burglary and one count of violation of condition of release, all of which occurred on July 19 in Augusta.

Tardiff and his attorney, Hank Hainke, said Tardiff was carrying stolen items and that a codefendant went into people’s garages and actually stole the items from vehicles.

The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Frayla Schoenfeld, said that a homeowner had seen one of them in his garage and followed them as they walked down the road. When they went in to the woods, and he called police.

She said the two allowed police to search their belongings and among those were several GPS devices, cellphone chargers, a wallet, 20 pounds of loose change, a knife and binoculars taken from various vehicles along the road.

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He also pleaded guilty to separate charges of assault and violation of condition of release that occurred Sept. 25 in Augusta.

“I just picked up something and threw it at him because I have a bad temper,” Tardiff told the judge about the assault charge. “It was reckless, yes. I didn’t mean to hit him.”

Tardiff was sentenced to five years in prison, all but nine months suspended, two years probation and $715 restitution. He was fined $300. The sentence also included a conviction for receiving stolen property on June 2, to which Tardiff previously pleaded guilty.

Betty Adams — 621-5631 | badams@centralmaine.com | Twitter: @betadams


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