AUGUSTA — A West Gardiner man will spend two years in prison for unlawful trafficking in cocaine in Augusta earlier this year. Dylan N. Hendsbee, 26, pleaded guilty to that charge Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center as well as to a charge of violation of violating bail conditions. The drugs were found in pants he was wearing, but he told police the pants were someone else’s.
He also forfeited $340 in cash and was fined $400. In exchange for the pleas, the state dismissed a charge of aggravated trafficking in cocaine.
Hendsbee was arrested on the charges on March 4 as he sat with two other people in his car on Cony Street, not far from Cony High School. Police approached the car after being asked to check the welfare of a woman who apparently had made some suicidal statements. The woman was not at her home, but her boyfriend told police she had just left in a coupe.
Police located a coupe not far away.
And when Hendsbee, the driver, was approached by police that night, he said the pants he was wearing — where police reported finding two caches of cocaine as well as cash — were not his.
A woman riding with him — who was the subject of the welfare check request — said the pants belonged to her boyfriend.
It was not clear in court on Tuesday who owned the pants.
On Tuesday, the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Tyler LeClair, said 25 grams of cocaine were found on Hendsbee and that sandwich bags “indicative of drug packaging” were found under a seat in the vehicle.
Police also reported finding a syringe that apparently had been thrown from the front passenger window as police approached.
LeClair said that because Hendsbee was free but subject to bail conditions that required him to submit to random searches and testing for drugs and alcohol, he was searched. Hendsbee had been charged previously with operating under the influence of drugs.
Attorney Caleb Gannon, who represented Hendsbee, said the defense had been waiting for the final weight of the cocaine minus the packaging. However, he said that Hendsbee opted to plead guilty to the lesser trafficking change.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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