Subject of FBI manhunt to change plea

Joshua Weldon

PORTLAND — A Sanford man charged with drug crimes who was the subject of an intense FBI manhunt last fall before he was apprehended at a Springvale convenience store is scheduled to change his pleas to guilty at U.S. District Court in Portland on Thursday afternoon.

Joshua Patrick Weldon, 26, is charged with conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute more than 40 grams of fentanyl. He is also charged with contempt for allegedly “willfully and knowingly” disobeying a court order by failing to reside at a sober house and failing to avoid contact with a specific individual.

Someone convicted on a contempt charge could be sentenced to as much as life in prison, according to documents on file with the court. The prison penalty for a conviction on a conspiracy charge ranges from a minimum of five years to a maximum of 40 years in federal prison, plus fines.

Weldon had been in federal custody on the drug charge and was released by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine on Oct. 23, 2018, on $10,000 unsecured bond, with the provision he reside at a sober house and be subject to pretrial supervision.

The FBI said Weldon failed to live up to the terms of his release when he didn’t show up at a sober house on Oct. 24 and to an appointment at the U.S. Probation Office on Oct. 25. A warrant was issued for his arrest. He was apprehended 24 days later, on Nov, 16, outside The Depot, a convenience store on Pleasant Street in Springvale.

At least three other people have been charged in connection with the alleged fentanyl operation.

According to the prosecution version of the case, Weldon, along with others, would at times travel to Lawrence, Massachusetts, to pick up fentanyl, which he would allegedly turn over to another person to sell. That individual would then deliver proceeds from the sales back to Weldon. Sometimes, the fentanyl was delivered to him in Maine. According to the court documents, an undercover agent allegedly purchased fentanyl from one of the people Weldon supplied at least five times.

It is unclear if a plea agreement has been made. Calls to Weldon’s attorney, Sarah Branch and to Assistant U.S. Attorney David Joyce were not returned by the newspaper’s deadline.

Weldon remains in federal custody.

His criminal history includes a conviction in York County Superior Court in Alfred in 2014 on Class B felony theft and burglary charges, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison, with all but 60 days suspended, along with two years probation. He was ordered to pay $750 restitution in that case.

State criminal records show Weldon was sentenced to 10 days in jail on a misdemeanor theft conviction in 2013. He was sentenced to 24 hours in jail in 2011 for misdemeanor violation of  conditions of release and a 48-hour sentence for a conviction on the same crime in 2014. Weldon was found guilty of misdemeanor theft and burglary charges in May 2014, but the sentence on those convictions was not available, according to the State Bureau of Investigation.

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