SANFORD — Drug enforcement agents working with Sanford police are investigating whether there is a connection between a recent spate of local overdoses and the recent arrest of a 40-year-old Sanford man on heroin and cocaine charges.

Shane Eisener, 40, was taken into custody on Route 109 late Friday by agents with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and officers with Wells Police and Maine State Police. He was charged with aggravated trafficking, a Class A felony.

During the last week of June, six people overdosed in Sanford after taking a suspected heroin/fentanyl mix; one of the overdose victims died. Several days later, an 18-year-old also died of an overdose.

“We are looking to see if there is any connection,” said MDEA Commander Scott Pelletier. “We do that in every investigation, but certainly because of the frequency of overdoses in Sanford, we’re looking to see if we can connect several of the dots to find the source.”

Pelletier said the agency “has not ruled out” Eisener.

“We’ll continue to look into his comings and goings,” said Pelletier in a telephone interview Monday.

Police say the investigation is continuing, and others associated with Eisener have been identified. Additional arrests are expected.

Authorities stopped a car returning from Lawrence, Massachusetts, on Friday in which Eisener was a passenger, according to Maine Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland.

McCausland said agents seized 42 grams of a heroin/ fentanyl mix – enough to supply 420 individual doses, according to Pelletier – plus 15 grams of cocaine from Eisener. The street value of the drugs was pegged at about $7,800.

McCausland said the car’s driver was released pending review of potential charges by the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

Eisener was taken to York County Jail, where he was held on $20,000 bail.

For the past two months, agents assigned to MDEA’s York District Task Force have been investigating drug traffickers who routinely travel to Massachusetts to purchase large amounts of heroin and sell them in greater Sanford.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.