AUGUSTA — A pair of West Gardiner men have been charged with aggravated drug trafficking after police allegedly caught them with ready-to-sell cocaine near Cony High School.

The men — Dylan Hendsbee, 26, and Steve Madsen, 23, both of West Gardiner — were charged after police said they were found Sunday night in a vehicle parked near the entrance to the Augusta Nature Center Trails on Cony Street, less than 500 feet from the high school property.

Hendsbee was charged with aggravated trafficking in schedule W drugs, a Class A felony because it’s in a school zone, violating conditions of release, and criminal forfeiture of property. Madsen faces a single charge of aggravated trafficking in schedule W drugs.

The two men made initial court appearances Monday at the Capital Judicial Center via video from the Kennebec County jail. A judge set bail at $5,000 for Hendsbee and $1,000 for Madsen, and required a Maine Pretrial Services contract for each.

Conditions of bail prohibit them from contact with each other and with a 23-year-old woman who was also in the vehicle.

Officer Simon Yorks of the Augusta Police Department came upon the parked vehicle at 11:25 p.m. Sunday, according to a news release from Deputy Chief Jared Mills.

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Augusta Police Officer Brett Lowell and Maine State Police Trooper Lacoste arrived as well with a police dog, allegedly discovering 35 grams of cocaine base powder packaged for individual sale, a digital scale, packaging material, narcotics paraphernalia and cash, according to the release.

An affidavit filed by Yorks at the Capital Judicial Center in support of probable cause for arrest, said Hendsbee, who was on bail conditions, was in the driver’s seat.

Because those conditions subjected him to search at any time, Hendsbee was searched, and police said they found bags of cocaine in the pockets of pants he was wearing; however, a woman in the car said they were her boyfriend’s clothes, not Hendsbee’s, and that he had changed into them at her house. They also seized $340 in cash found on Hendsbee.

Police also reportedly located a syringe loaded with what they believed was heroin that had apparently been thrown from the vehicle when police approached it.

The judge on Monday also held Hendsbee without bail on the state’s motion to revoke bail. He had been bailed previously on a Nov. 4, 2017, charge of operating under the influence.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams


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