BRUNSWICK

The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency has charged two men with selling heroin at a mobile home near Brunswick High School on Wednesday.

Nathan Donovan, 33, of Brunswick, and Melvin Givens, 35, of New York, were both charged with aggravated trafficking of heroin at Linnhaven Mobile Home Center, the Maine DEA announced Thursday afternoon.

The arrests were part of a three-month investigation by the MDEA Mid-Coast District Task Force into the sale of cocaine and heroin in Brunswick, as well as in Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties.

According to the MDEA, Givens had been traveling to Maine from New York with large amounts of the drugs, and would stay at local drug users/distributors homes in order to sell. He frequently changed locations to evade law enforcement.

With assistance from Sagadahoc

Sheriff ’s Department, and Bath and Brunswick Police departments, agents located Givens at 14 Kurt St. at Linnhaven, where he was staying with Nathan Donovan and Donovan’s father, Robert Tardiff, 68.

Agents determined Givens and Donovan were conducting drug sales from the mobile home and a search warrant was issued.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Brunswick Police Special Response Team entered and secured the mobile home without incident, according to MDEA.

Brunswick Police Det. Rich Cutliffe said the operation went as planned. Donovan and Givens “were taken by surprise and didn’t have a chance to respond, even if they had wanted (to),” said Cutliffe.

“When a team goes in, their entry is going to be quick,” said Cutliffe, who was not present at the arrest.

Found inside were approximately 27 grams of heroin, 4.5 grams of cocaine, Suboxone strips, marijuana, a digital scale and other items associated with drug sales. The street value of the seized heroin and cocaine was $5,500, according to MDEA.

Givens and Donovan were arrested without incident and transported to the Cumberland County Jail. Tardiff was arrested on outstanding warrants for unpaid fines and transported to the Brunswick Police Department where he posted bail.

The DEA said agents identified a number of other people who have provided their homes for Givens’ drug sales and more arrests are likely.

Givens is being held on $50,000 bail and Donovan’s bail was set at $25,000.

Linnhaven Mobile Home Center is located off Maquoit Road adjacent to the high school, but is still beyond the 1,000-foot threshold that would elevate the charges.

However, the men are being charged with a Class A crime, said Cutliffe, because of prior convictions. Class A crimes are punishable by up to 30 years incarceration and a $50,000 fine.

Cutliffe said he was told by Maine DEA that Donovan also has a criminal history, and that both he and Givens were convicted felons.

Cutliffe was unable to confirm whether the Nathan Donovan who was arrested Wednesday was the same Nathan Donovan who was sentenced last year by Cumberland County Court to 81 days in jail for carrying a concealed weapon and for criminal mischief.

Efforts to reach Maine DEA were unsuccessful on Thursday.

In June 2014, Brunswick Police charged Givens with possession of the drug commonly known as ecstasy or Molly and having a useable amount of marijuana, according to a Bangor Daily News report.

Givens had been arrested at a home on MacMillan Street, but had been on probation for felony drug possession out of New York.

He had been on parole out of New York when he was arrested on Wednesday, said Cutliffe.