PHILLIPS – A local man has been charged with trafficking, following an investigation into how a person that police discovered unconscious in a Strong residence may have acquired narcotics.
Scott Pinkham, 50 of Phillips, has been charged with two counts of aggravated trafficking in a scheduled drug, both Class A felonies.
According to information released by Sheriff Scott Nichols Thursday, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Brad Scovil, Deputy Derrick Doucette and Deputy Alan Elmes responded to a residence on South Main Street on Aug. 30 at approximately 9:48 p.m. after receiving a report about a medical emergency. There, they discovered an unconscious individual. The deputies used Naloxone, a medication that blocks the effects of opioids, to revive the individual.
Deputies began investigating how the individual received narcotics, with Doucette acting as primary investigator. With the assistance of Lt. David St. Laurent and Detective Stephen Charles, the investigators developed enough information to obtain a search warrant for a residence on Park Street in Phillips.
On Sept. 4 at approximately 1 p.m., FCSO personnel as well as a Maine State Police trooper and an Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agent executed the search warrant on that residence. Nichols said that an estimated 20 grams of apparent fentanyl/heroin was seized as a result of that search. The seized material had not been tested as of Thursday morning.
The Park Street resident, Pinkham, was arrested on two counts of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs, both Class A felonies. He was transported to Franklin County Detention Center, where bail was set at $75,000 cash prior to his initial court appearance.
“[The] Sheriff’s Office will take quick action anytime we received information of someone dealing in potential deadly narcotics,” Nichols wrote. “The victim in this case was lucky that Deputies just happened to be in town and were able to revive him.”
Anyone surprised???
Not sure why the person who chose to take the drug and knew consequences of his choice is being referred to as a “victim”.
Is he the only one from Phillips?
Praying for you Scott and your family .
How about these victims can get revived one time. After that they’ve got to either change their lifestyle or deal with the consequences. We have elderly people that can’t afford their life saving medication but give Naloxone to anyone that needs it for free when every day of their life they are choosing to do a drug that’s killing them
Mainah, Apples and oranges, Narcan is not free, it’s about $150 a dose, and when first responders use it, it is no different than them using a defibrillator to save the life of a person having a heart attack. First responders don’t buy the narcan, nor do they buy the defibrillators, but they are tasked with saving people’s lives, no matter who or what they have done to screw themselves up. Elderly people have the same choice we all have, get good life insurance when they’re young so they are taken care of when they are old. Everybody has a right to life, nobody has a right to demand others pay for it.
Hrtlss: Usually you have some strong points, but in this case? Not a good analogy…
Hrtlss, that’s… heartless. “Sorry Grandma, I know how expensive insulin is, but you should have planned ahead better.”
Aside from the debate about reviving overdosing addicts, I’m just relieved that anyone with that quantity of narcotics is off the streets. The victim is lucky, but so are the rest of us- that bad choice led to a major drug dealer being removed from our community, and hopefully each and every use of naloxone can have the same result- getting more and more drug dealers locked up. Pray for his family, his “friends”, his neighbors and anyone else hurt by a drug addiction that Mr Pinkham has been feeding.
HB, I don’t always agree with you but you are usually insightful and that last sentence is the most accurate thing I’ve ever read in your comments, imo. However, that’s just my opinion and I worry that the general population is devolving from the once Can Do mindset to one of static reliance.
Dear Bstrd,
Tell me something…how does life insurance pay for medications for the elderly? I have life insurance (I’m not elderly but still..) no where in my policy does it say that it will pay for my medications when Im old. What it will do is give my children money when I die to help pay for my expenses after life.
You are correct when you say that everyone has a right to life but do not have the right to have others pay for it. I would argue that when you choose to do drugs, you choose the potential to have to pay for someone to save your life. Why should we all be picking up the tab. Maybe, we could look at this from the Darwinian perspective and decide that if you are dumb enough to start down the road of illicit drugs you take the chance at perpetuating natural selection.
Not sure if anyone noticed, but Hrtlss is more concerned with the money available after someone dies… because life insurance isn’t going to buy you any medications. Planning ahead with a good life insurance policy would certainly benefit your loved ones, but it won’t get you squat at the pharmacy. Hrtlss… and waiting for an inheritance!
Working, Grandma has social security and is eligible for MaineCare, MediCare part B, and AARP, if grandma doesn’t have insulin, it’s because a) she doesn’t have diabetes or b) is too lazy to apply for the help that is available for elderly people. And people should care enough about their own health to get some form of health insurance. For example I pay $450 a month for private health insurance, that’s $5400 a year, it can cost up to $12,000 a month for out patient cancer treatments, I hope I don’t need to use my insurance for that, but even a 3 day hospital stay can be $20,000 depending on what is done, but I would have to pay $5400 a year for about 30 years just to cover one year worth of cancer treatments.
Terri M, My analogy is spot on, most addicts don’t take a dose and expect to have an overdose, most people don’t eat fatty foods and expect to have a heart attack either. EMS is tasked with trying to save people, it’s what they do. Anybody in Maine can buy Narcan, they can also buy a defibrillator, does that mean that since both are available to the public that people will stop ODing or having heart attacks, nope, it just means that the stupid person who ODs and the stupid person who eats pizza by the pie will both have the same chance at being saved should they need it.