AUGUSTA — Three of the five people arrested on drug charges Monday in a city apartment had prior convictions for drug offenses, according to court records.

All five had initial hearings Wednesday at the Capital Judicial Center via video link from the Kennebec County jail. A judge set bail for each with conditions prohibiting them from having contact with each other and from leaving Maine.

They were arrested after police responded to a report of disorderly conduct at 75 Washington St., Apartment 8, the same apartment where a city man was found beaten to death last November.

Melissa Sue Clark, 31, whose address is listed as that apartment, was on probation for a conviction July 5, 2016, on a charge of unlawful trafficking in heroin that occurred Oct. 21, 2015, in Augusta. She was sentenced to a two-year, all-suspended jail sentence and three years of probation. A second charge of unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs was dismissed at that time.

She now faces charges of aggravated trafficking in heroin and unlawful trafficking in crack cocaine. A judge set her bail at $50,000 cash, and she is being held without bail on a probation violation charge. The aggravated trafficking charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

Shaun C. Campbell, 34, of Augusta, was convicted of unlawful possession of drugs and sentenced in March 2014 to an initial 18 months in prison, with the remainder of the seven-year sentence suspended, with three years of probation. He is charged with aggravated trafficking in heroin and unlawful possession of crack cocaine. His bail is set at $75,000 cash.

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Shawn D. Dallas, 24, also known as “Glow,” of New York City, was convicted in June 2015 of unlawful trafficking that occurred Dec. 9, 2014. He was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $400. Court documents also indicate he has prior felony convictions on drug charges in New York. He is charged with aggravated trafficking in heroin and unlawful trafficking in crack cocaine. His bail is set at $75,000.

Elizah K. Cherry, 31, of Bonita Springs, Florida, is charged with unlawful trafficking in heroin and unlawful possession of crack cocaine. His bail is set at $40,000 cash. Records at the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office show Cherry gave an address in Old Orchard Beach in November 2015 when he was arrested on the Maine Turnpike in Portland on a charge of domestic violence terrorizing.

Alyssa Theriault, 20, of Gardiner, also is charged with unlawful trafficking in heroin and unlawful possession of crack cocaine. Her bail is set at $7,500 cash with a Maine Pretrial Services contract.

Judge Tom Nale said bail could be reconsidered once attorneys are appointed for the individual defendants.

A court affidavit by Augusta police Detective Matthew Estes says that Clark answered the door when police arrived and “a strong odor of marijuana” was emanating from the apartment. Estes said he heard a commotion inside a closed bedroom, which Clark said was hers. She first told police she was alone, then said she had a friend.

Estes said Campbell came out of the bedroom, and then Clark said others were there as well. Estes said officers searching the closet in that room found bags containing substances that field-tested as heroin and crack cocaine. Police later said they found 10.37 grams of heroin and 2.52 grams of crack cocaine.

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Estes said no one claimed ownership of the drugs, and that an amount over 10 grams “is a common amount drug dealers have when selling the drug.”

Clark later told police that Dallas and Campbell had been at her apartment most of the day and that Dallas had brought two plastic bags there, according to Estes’ affidavit.

The arrests took place at the same apartment in which Joseph Marceau was beaten to death in November. Four people were charged in connection with that high-profile case. Damik Davis, 26, of New York, and Sean McQuade, 45 of Augusta, have pleaded not guilty to murder. Zina Marie Fritze, 27, of Augusta, also pleaded not guilty to murder, though she died after she was found unresponsive and hanging from a bed sheet in January in her cell at the Kennebec County jail. In July, the fourth suspect, Aubrey Armstrong, was arrested in Queens, New York, on a fugitive from justice warrant in Queens. He’s due in court on Oct. 3 in New York state.

Court records indicated McQuade and Fritze were being evicted from the apartment at the time.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams


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