AUGUSTA — A New York man was ordered Tuesday to spend six years in prison in Maine for smuggling hundreds of oxycodone pills for sale here.

Rafael Jesus Brito, 28, of New York City, was arrested Feb. 3 as he got off a bus in Augusta.

Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agents had been tipped off that Brito was bringing drugs into Maine weekly to sell them in the midcoast area, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by Assistant Attorney General Katie Sibley, who sought a seven-year prison term for Brito. The man had pleaded guilty June 5 to aggravated trafficking in oxycodone.

Thirty-milligram oxycodone pills typically sell for $45 to $55 in the midcoast area, Sibley wrote in her memo, adding that Brito brought $12,487 worth of illegal oxycodone pills to Maine if the pills sold at the low end.

“This cannot be described in any other way except as a for-profit enterprise,” the assistant attorney general wrote.

Brito’s defense attorney, Stephen Bourget, told Judge Evert Fowle that he thought Brito should receive a five-year sentence, which recognized both the four-year minimum under the statute and acknowledged Brito’s previous drug-trafficking convictions.

Bourget said Brito had earned a General Educational Development certificate in jail and had been trained and worked in New York as a barber until the shop closed abruptly.

“He was destitute in Manhattan, which is an expensive place to live,” Bourget said. “He had a moment of weakness, and that’s when he brought these drugs to Maine.”

Fowle said that the more than 200 oxycodone pills Brito was carrying was a substantial number and the 30-milligram dosage was one of the most commonly abused.

“This is more than a moment of weakness,” Sibley responded. “This is a pattern of behavior.”

Brito, who has been held in jail for the past five months, did not speak at the sentencing hearing Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center.

“This state has a terrible, terrible problem with prescription drug abuse, oxycodone abuse,” Fowle said in sentencing Brito to six years in prison. Brito also was fined $400.

A number of other people were sentenced Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center:

• Shelby Beaulieu, 24, of Augusta, theft by unauthorized taking or transfer March 12, 2014, in Augusta; $200 fine.

• Rahiem Brent, 30, of Manhattan, New York, unlawful trafficking in cocaine Feb. 20 in Augusta; 18-month prison sentence, $400 fine.

• Caron E. Simpson, 46, of Stratford, Connecticut, operating while license suspended or revoked Jan. 17, 2015, in Augusta and operating under the influence Aug. 31, 2003, in Clinton; 90-day license suspension, $650 in fines.

• Alison R. Trask, 31, of Windsor, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and illegal possession of a firearm Dec. 17, 2014, in Windsor; 30-month jail sentence, all but 45 days suspended (credit for 45 days served), and two years of probation.

• Jennifer L. Tripp, 41, of Augusta, unlawful possession of cocaine Oct. 15, 2014, in Augusta; nine-month jail sentence, all suspended, one-year probation, $400 fine.

• William A. Ziegenfus, 26, of Bangor, operating after revocation May 1, 2014, in Oakland; 30-day jail sentence concurrent to a sentence in a Penobscot County case.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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