SKOWHEGAN — Two men were arrested Thursday afternoon on allegations of selling cocaine and heroin after police used a warrant to forcibly enter one of their homes, where drugs were seized after authorities dismantling a toilet.

A police investigation revealed that cocaine and heroin have been sold from the residence for months. The drugs have been brought to Maine from New York, according to a news release Friday from the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.

Abdul Roberson

James A. Mack

Abdul Roberson, 30, of Manhattan, New York, and James A. Mack, 35, of Skowhegan, were arrested on charges of trafficking heroin and cocaine, both class B felonies, and falsifying physical evidence, a class D misdemeanor. Roberson also was charged with being a fugitive from justice as the subject of a warrant from New York.

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at 2:10 p.m. at Mack’s home at 25 Dawes St. in Skowhegan with the help of its detective division, deputies, a dog unit and a Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agent.

The officers forced their way into the house, according to Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster. Police suspected the two men had flushed drugs down the toilet after the search team found crack cocaine inside the toilet bowl.

Deputies dismantled the toilet, Lancaster said, and worked with the Skowhegan Highway Department to inspect the pipe using a sewer video camera. The camera showed a “large bag of what appeared to be drugs,” according to Lancaster. The bag was taken out of the pipe, and deputies found it was filled with cocaine and heroin.

Authorities found 40 grams of cocaine and 43 bags of heroin throughout the residence and inside the sewer line. The drugs have a street value of $5,200, Lancaster said.

Police said they also seized digital scales, drug packaging material, drug paraphernalia, drug documentation and around $10,000 in cash.

Both Roberson and Mack were taken to Somerset County Jail.

Roberson gave police a fake name at first, Lancaster said. Roberson is a fugitive from New York who was wanted on an extraditable warrant for parole violation, according to the news release.

Roberson’s criminal record in New York includes felony convictions for possession of cocaine, robbery that caused a physical injury, assault with the intent to cause injury with a weapon, and criminal possession of a weapon.

The investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected.

Madeline St. Amour — 861-9239

mstamour@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @madelinestamour

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