New York man pleads guilty to trafficking drugs in Gardiner

AUGUSTA — A New York man who was one of three people charged with drug trafficking following a 2018 search of a Gardiner apartment which turned up 120 grams of heroin, 220 grams of cocaine, and $14,000 in cash pleaded guilty to felony drug trafficking charges Wednesday.

Michael Antonio Nelson, 33, of Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty to two class A felony charges of aggravated drug trafficking, and two class B charges of unlawful drug trafficking.

Nelson was one of three men charged with drug trafficking following a 2018 police search of an apartment, rented by one of the men, on Middle Street in Gardiner.

Also arrested following that bust were Jahneiro Plummer, 28, also of Brooklyn, and Clifford Sousa, 44, of Gardiner. Plummer was found guilty of aggravated trafficking in cocaine and heroin by a jury in February 2019. Sousa pleaded guilty to unlawful trafficking in heroin and cocaine in November 2018 and was sentenced to an initial nine months and one day in prison, with the remainder of the four-year term suspended, with two years on probation.

Assistant Attorney General Katie Sibley said a special agent with Maine Drug Enforcement Agency bought cocaine base, or crack, from Nelson, whom she said is also known as GTown, on July 17, 2018, and heroin from him on July 30, 2018.

Police acting on a search warrant found a total of 120 grams of heroin and 220 grams of cocaine, scales, packaging material, and $14,000 in cash, including $100 in money police had used to buy drugs from Nelson previously, in a bedroom occupied by Nelson and Jahneiro.

Nelson and Jahneiro were arrested by police as the pair tried to flee out the back bedroom of the apartment.

Nelson is scheduled to be sentenced March 18.

There is no plea agreement in place specifying his sentence, leaving that to be determined by Justice Michaela Murphy, who accepted Nelson’s guilty pleas. Nelson’s attorney, David Paris, said Wednesday he had not expected Nelson to plead guilty.

Class A felonies are punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Paris said he plans to argue in sentencing that Nelson was an accomplice to Plummer, not the principal actor in the crime.

During Plummer’s trial his defense attorney, Kevin Sullivan, argued Plummer simply came to Maine to visit his friend Nelson, smoke some weed because it is legal in Maine but isn’t where he lived in New York, and record some music with Nelson.