SNOOZING BUS TRAVELER CHARGED WITH CARRYING 80 BAGS OF HEROIN

MACHIAS - You snooze, you lose - especially when you're allegedly
carrying 80 bags of heroin.

That's what happened to a 38-year-old Springfield, Mass., man who
awoke on the bus Monday to find himself staring at a blue uniform and
a gold shield. West Bus Service travels from Bangor to Calais every day.

[Name redacted] appeared Wednesday in Washington County Superior
Court in Machias.

He was charged with aggravated unlawful furnishing of scheduled
drugs, unlawful furnishing of scheduled drugs and two counts of
unlawful possession of scheduled drugs.

The unlawful furnishing charge was elevated to aggravated because
[Name redacted]'s bus traveled within 1,000 feet of the Machias
Christian School, said Assistant District Attorney Joelle Pratt.

Police also found a container about the size of a lip balm cap filled
with what is believed to be cocaine.

Both the heroin and cocaine have been sent to a lab for analysis.

[Name redacted] remained in Washington County Jail Wednesday afternoon.

On Monday, [Name redacted], who was traveling from Bangor to Machias,
was sound asleep when the bus arrived at its stop in the county seat.

Sleeping on a bus isn't a crime, except when you appear unresponsive.
That's when police were called. "He wouldn't wake up," Pratt said. "A
woman beside him [who had reached her stop] couldn't get out of her
seat so she kind of pushed him and he kept falling asleep."

Machias police Officer Richard Strout was called.

"Officer Strout first tried to see if he was OK. The guy said he'd
been awake for a long time and said he was tired," Pratt said. He
told police he was on his way to Machiasport to visit a friend.

A routine background check revealed that [Name redacted] had an
active warrant out of Cumberland County for possession of cocaine and
operating after suspension. During that arrest, [Name redacted] told
Maine State Police that his name was Luis Robichaud.

Strout arrested [Name redacted] and while he was being searched
police found the heroin and cocaine.

[Name redacted] told police he'd purchased the heroin for $6 a bag in
Massachusetts. The street value in Washington County is $30 a bag.

If convicted [Name redacted] could be sentenced up to 10 years in prison.