AUGUSTA — A New York woman who was renting an apartment in Waterville will spend an initial six months behind bars for selling heroin from that location.
Dasheene J. Bowman, 41, of Brooklyn, New York, saw the remainder of the four-year sentence suspended and was placed on probation for two years. She had pleaded guilty to aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs and conspiracy to commit aggravated trafficking.
She was also fined $400 and agreed to the forfeiture of $31,970 in cash that was seized by investigators on Jan. 28 in that apartment.
At the hearing at the Capital Judicial Center on Thursday, Judge Eric Walker cautioned her, saying, “The real sentence you need to be aware of here is the four-year sentence. If (probation) does not go well, you are facing a sentence of 3 ½ years to prison.”
The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Francis Griffin, told the judge that Bowman and two men were charged in January 2016 after Waterville police had set up surveillance after receiving reports of multiple comings and goings from apartment building locally referred to as “the beehive” at Elm Street and Western Avenue. The officers then used a confidential informant to make hand-to-hand drug buys, Griffin said.
Bowman answered the apartment door on Jan. 19, indicated she needed to make a phone call and later exchanged heroin and crack cocaine for cash, he said.
Later, emergency responders were called to the apartment for a possible drug overdose, which is when the money was seized.
Griffin said the state opted to charge just the heroin trafficking as part of the plea agreement.
He said Bowman has a previous conviction in New York for possession of a controlled substance.
Bowman’s 2-year-old daughter was in the apartment when Bowman was arrested and was placed in the custody of Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services.
Bowman’s defense attorney, Stephen Bourget, said Bowman has been held since her arrest Jan. 18, and anticipates being released from jail in about three months.
Griffin did not request substance abuse evaluation as a condition of her probation, saying Bowman did not appear to have a drug problem.
Charges remain pending against co-defendants, Jose M. Diaz, 25, of Augusta, and Ronald Brandon Williams, 23, of Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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