Drug suspect set to change plea in federal court

Abijah Williams

PORTLAND — A Bridgeport, Connecticut, driver whom authorities say was bringing fentanyl and cocaine into Maine to sell when he was stopped on the Maine Turnpike in Wells in 2017 is scheduled to change his plea to guilty in federal court on Friday.

Abijah Williams, 30, faces a sentence of between 5 and 40 years in federal prison, plus a fine and not less than four years of supervised release, according to documents on file at the U.S. District Court in Portland. He is charged with the Class B felony federal crime of possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine base.

Troopers seized 56 grams of cocaine and 400 packages of fentanyl, apparently prepackaged for sale, when they stopped a car operating northbound on the Maine Turnpike in Wells on Dec. 19, 2017, Maine State Police police said at the time.

Williams was the driver and Mayra Miro, 32, also of Bridgeport, was a passenger.

Both were initially charged by the state with aggravated drug trafficking.

Police said there were “criminal indicators” observed at the scene and officers called in Trooper Adam Schmidt of Troop A in Alfred along with his police dog Ibo to search.

Members of the Troop G as well as several members of the PACE or Proactive Criminal Enforcement Team, which is designed to intercept drugs coming into Maine, assisted in the investigation, police said.

Williams was indicted by a grand jury in federal court on Jan 26, 2018.

The case has been scheduled for trial a number of times, most recently for February. Then, on Jan. 18, a change of plea hearing was scheduled for Jan. 25.

Williams remains in federal custody.

No further information was available regarding Miro.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.

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