PORTLAND — A Sanford man is headed to federal prison for more than 111/2 years after pleading guilty to conspiring to sell heroin and fentanyl and for owning a gun while doing so.

According to federal authorities, Jesse Roy, 37, was not only involved in selling heroin and fentanyl on the streets of Sanford in 2014, he sent two letters to an unnamed co-defendant a year later, concocting a story in an effort to obstruct the investigation and prosecution.

An alleged threat to harm his roommates ultimately led to the discovery of the drugs.

Sanford Police, armed with a warrant, searched Roy’s Island Avenue apartment in October 2014 after they responded to a call from his roommates reporting he had threatened them with a gun.

“They were in fear of their lives,” Det. Sgt. Matthew Jones said following the incident. “They fled and called us.”

Police watched the apartment after the alleged threat, waiting for Roy to emerge. Jones said they knew Roy tended to be armed when he was inside the home.

One evening, they saw Roy leave the apartment and get into a vehicle. Police moved into position and arrested him without incident.

The search turned up 94 grams of heroin – about 940 doses – from the living room and a bedroom. They found $24,500 in cash and a Davis Industries model P380 .38 caliber handgun hidden in the basement behind a wall.

Roy was sentenced Monday at U.S. District Court in Portland after earlier pleading guilty to the charges. He was previously convicted of dealing drugs in 2006 and on an assault charge, Sanford Police said at his 2014 arrest.

Had the case gone to trial, Assistant U.S Attorney Benjamin Block wrote in court documents that the government would prove that Roy obtained heroin and fentanyl from a supplier in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and distributed those drugs in the Sanford area. Block wrote that Roy personally distributed controlled substances, and others also did so on his behalf.

In a pre-sentence report, Roy’s defense counsel, David Van Dyke, recommended an eight-year sentence. He argued that Roy did not “organize, lead, manage or supervise” his roommates in the drug operation. Van Dyke claimed Roy introduced his roommates to heroin as a step-up from their prior opiate usage.

“He merely provided them with product to sell to raise monies in lieu of rent so that he could purchase drugs to sustain his own overwhelming habit,” Van Dyke wrote, arguing that “this was neither a sophisticated nor profit-driven operation.”

U.S. District Court Judge Jon Levy sentenced Roy to 80 months in connection with the narcotics distribution conspiracy and an additional five years for possession of a firearm in the furtherance of drug trafficking.

According to a statement released Monday by U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty II, the sentence was enhanced because of Roy’s attempt to obstruct justice and for acting as a manager or supervisor of the drug distribution conspiracy. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release.

Sanford Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case.

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