New Vineyard Man Pleads Guilty to Gun and Drug Charges

Bangor, Maine:  United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that Jordan Richard, 24, of New Vineyard, Maine, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and oxycodone and discharging a firearm during, in relation to, and in furtherance of, a drug trafficking crime.  

According to court records, between January 2016 and September 2017, the defendant and others conspired to distribute cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and oxycodone from the defendant’s residences in Rangeley and New Sharon, Maine. On July 28, 2016, the defendant shot and killed one of two men who came to his Rangeley residence to rob him. The second man fled the scene and was subsequently captured. Officers investigating the shooting discovered cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone, cash, drug paraphernalia and the semiautomatic handgun used in the shooting in the residence. 

The defendant faces up to 20 years in prison, three years supervised release, and a $1,000,000 fine on the drug charge. He faces a mandatory consecutive term of between 10 years and life in prison, five years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine on the gun charge.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office; the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives; the Maine State Police; and the Rangeley Maine Police Department; with assistance provided by the Maine Office of the Attorney General. This case was investigated and prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s Strategy to Combat the Opioid Epidemic.