Augusta man sentenced to 11 years on federal drug trafficking charges

AUGUSTA — An Augusta man was convicted this week on federal drug trafficking charges and sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.

Ray C. Mack Jr., 30, was part of a drug trafficking organization that distributed cocaine and the synthetic opioids fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl in Rochester, New York, and Augusta, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Harvey, who handled the case, said in a statement released to the news media.

Mack was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 40 grams or more of fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross said Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Siragusa of New York sentenced Mack to 135 months in prison.

Mack was arrested in May 2021 following a search of a Waldo Street residence in the Sand Hill neighborhood of Augusta. The dwelling was a drug house where Mack and others sold illegal narcotics, with Mack supervising the operation, according to federal court documents filed as part of the sentencing process this week.

Mack and others in the group also operated a drug house in Rochester, and sold synthetic opioids and cocaine to an undercover officer several times in New York, according to the filings.

In addition to the federal charges, Mack faces charges in Maine connected to his 2021 arrest, including two counts of gross sexual assault and one count each of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

Maine officials allege Mack sexually assaulted a woman he had drugged or caused to be intoxicated, and threatened to kill her while he brandished a gun.

Court records allege that prior to threatening the woman, Mack and another man had discovered a text message on her cellphone from a friend who said she would report drug dealing involving the three of them to police.

Police took Mack on May 27, 2021, to the Kennebec County Correctional Facility in Augusta, after searching the Waldo Street residence and finding a loaded 9 mm gun and seven grams of fentanyl, according to officials.

Mack had been convicted of burglary — but found not criminally responsible by reason of insanity — in 2010 in New York, prompting the charge of possessing a firearm as a prohibited person.

He was scheduled to take a plea deal on the Maine charges Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta. The plea was postponed after court officials first could not locate Mack, and then, after locating him in federal custody, determined he could not be available by Zoom that day.