AUGUSTA — Two men pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges — and were each sentenced to four years in prison — in unrelated cases Tuesday.

William Seabron, 27, of Augusta, pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated trafficking in drugs, for selling cocaine and heroin to a cooperating person working with special agents from the Maine Drug Enforcement agency June 22, 2018, in Augusta and again June 28, 2018, in Gardiner, according to Assistant Attorney General Katie Sibley.

He will be sentenced to four years in prison in a plea agreement with state prosecutors, the minimum sentence on the felony-level, class A charges, which could result in a maximum sentence of 30 years.

Seabron’s attorney, Brad Grant, said the case was complicated by the death of the person who cooperated with police in the drug buys. But he said three police officers involved in the case probably still would testify and identify Seabron as having sold the drugs.

“That’s why we entered into serious negotiations with the state today to try to resolve this,” Grant said of the plea deal taken by his client, Seabron, who has a prior drug trafficking conviction on his record. “He’s making more than a reasonable decision, your honor. It’s in his best interest.”

Seabron also will have to pay a $400 fine.

In an unrelated case, Randy Otero-Sanchez, 28, of Augusta, also pleaded guilty to aggravated drug trafficking charges, and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Sibley said Otero-Sanchez sold heroin to a cooperating person working with Augusta police Feb. 20 and March 4 in buys that were monitored and recorded by police.

He pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of aggravated drug trafficking and, in a plea deal in which a third count was dismissed, was sentenced to four years in prison.

Justice William Stokes said Otero-Sanchez was convicted on a drug offense in 2011 in New York, leading to the charges in Maine being elevated to the “aggravated” level and a class A felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Otero-Sanchez’s attorney, James Mitchell Flick, said Otero-Sanchez also might face extradition to New York on a parole violation after his prison time in Maine. Flick asked Stokes to suspend the fines against his client, which could have totaled about $800 under mandatory minimum fine statutes.

Stokes agreed to suspend all but $200 of the fines.

“The state Legislature gave us the authority to suspend (mandatory minimum fines) because what was happening was someone like Mr. Otero-Sanchez would come out of prison with thousands of dollars in fines, and you’d never get out from under it,” Stokes said. “You’d get out and have this insurmountable financial hurdle.”

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