AUGUSTA — A Pennsylvania man was sentenced Thursday after being convicted of trafficking in heroin and then assaulting two corrections officers at the Kennebec County jail.
Ricardo David Perry, 19, of Lancaster, Pa., was sentenced to five years in prison, with all but 13 months suspended and two years probation Thursday.
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He was arrested on the unlawful trafficking charge March 2 after a traffic stop on Interstate 295 in Farmingdale, and the assaults occurred April 12. Perry was also fined $400.
Assistant District Attorney Joelle Pratt said Perry was one of two passengers in the rear of the vehicle, which was pulled over for seatbelt violations.
Police found two backpacks in the trunk, one containing a package of more than two grams of heroin and the other containing packaging materials that could be used to break the heroin into smaller packages.
Pratt said the charge was brought as trafficking because of the quantity of the drug rather than because of any transaction.
Pratt also told Justice Daniel Billings in Kennebec County Superior Court that the assaults at the jail involved another inmate and a video camera recorded the incident in which one officer got pushed into the shower and one was punched in the face.
She said neither officer suffered significant or longterm injuries.
Billings noted that attorneys discussed Perry’s minimal criminal record prior to making the sentencing recommendation.
In late January, Perry pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal restraint for allegedly holding a Chelsea acquaintance overnight in a Hankerson Road home. Perry was sentenced to five months in jail, the amount of time he had been held awaiting trial. He and another man were initially charged with kidnapping and aggravated assault in connection with the July 17 incident in Chelsea., but prosecutors were unable to locate the alleged victim.
In a separate court hearing on Wednesday, Brandon L. Bryant, 26, of Sidney, pleaded guilty to a charge of operating under the influence as a jury selected earlier waited in an adjacent room at Kennebec County Superior Court for the start of his trial.
Bryant was fined $700 and his license was suspended for 90 days. Bryant was stopped Feb. 2, 2013, in Waterville.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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