Police seek Oxford area in connection to chase, arrest 5 on drug trafficking fees
Mar. 18—Police arrested 5 other people on prison drug fees in Oxford on Wednesday once they achieved a seek warrant at a house attached to the person charged with main police on a chase via Paris and Oxford wherein one individual was once significantly injured.
Maine State Police stated the hunt warrant was once associated with the investigation of Ethan Rioux-Poulios, 26, who allegedly fled police in a pickup truck March 4 prior to he slammed head-on into some other car, seriously injuring a 28-year-old lady. Rioux-Poulios must have had his license suspended however state courts by no means despatched the essential forms to the Bureau of Motor Cars as required, which means his license was once lively.
Soldiers and individuals of the FBI Secure Streets Activity Pressure went to 11 Lengthy View Power in Oxford on Wednesday to search for clothes related to Rioux-Poulios, state police stated. Police knew Rioux-Poulios prior to now have been related to the deal with and he was once arrested shut through following the chase this month. It isn’t transparent why they wanted the clothes, however it can be attached to efforts to turn out that Rioux-Poulios was once in truth at the back of the wheel prior to police arrested him.
When he was once taken into custody, Rioux-Poulios denied being the motive force and stated any individual else have been riding, however he would not say who, the arrest affidavit states.
When officials arrived on the house for the hunt, two other people attempted to go away via a again door.
As soon as within, police discovered proof of an ongoing drug trafficking operation and received a 2d warrant to look the house for medication, state police stated. As officials waited for a pass judgement on to study and log off on the second one warrant, the house owners arrived at the scene.
After police gained the second one warrant, they searched the place of abode and cars within sight and situated 195 grams of suspected fentanyl, 40 grams of suspected cocaine and $4,995 in money, which they consider to be drug proceeds.
Police say they discovered proof that any individual in the house was once generating crack-cocaine.
5 other people have been charged with drug trafficking: Oxford citizens Matthew Robare, 45, Julie Coolidge, 48, and Kendra Talbot, 42; and Darlene Thomas, 50, of Otisfield and Joshua Appleby, 37, of Woodstock.
Police stated Robare and Coolidge personal the house. The city assets data display Coolidge owns a house at 11 Lengthy View Power, a residential cul-de-sac.
When police have been searching for Rioux-Poulios all through the March 4 chase, a state trooper helping within the seek steered that different officials search for Rioux-Poulios on Lengthy View Power.
Trooper Jason Wing wrote that Rioux-Poulios had “legal contacts in the community,” Wing stated in an arrest affidavit.
Rioux-Poulios must have had his license suspended prior to the March 4 chase, but it surely by no means went into impact as a result of a systemic bureaucratic error in how the courts and the Bureau of Motor Cars proportion details about convictions that are supposed to lead to suspensions.
Since his arrest, the BMV, the state courtroom device and prosecutors have agreed on a brand new device to make sure no different driving force’s critical legal conviction comparable to compelling slips through overlooked. The officers additionally promised a 10-year assessment of previous circumstances to right kind every other screw ups.
Rioux-Poulios pleaded accountable final 12 months to killing a person together with his automotive all through a 2019 police chase that still ended in a crash. If that’s the case, a 70-year-old Norway guy died after Rioux-Poulios rear ended his car, sending it tumbling sideways right into a tree.
Rioux-Poulios is being held at Oxford County Prison on six prison counts associated with the March 4 chase.
Police say after they arrested Rioux-Poulios this month, they discovered a folded piece of aluminum foil in his pants pocket that had a burnt residue on it. Wing famous within the arrest affidavit that the foil is regularly used to smoke medication, together with opiates.
As a part of the accountable plea within the 2019 case, Rioux-Poulios was once launched on time served and was once put on two years of probation that prohibited him from possessing or the use of medication.
Right through the July 2021 sentencing for the 2019 case, Rioux-Poulios’ lawyer stated his shopper has a “critical, critical drug habit,” the Solar Magazine reported.
His lawyer, James Howaniec, stated final 12 months that once he’s top, Rioux-Poulios is “depressing to maintain.” He is sarcastic and unsightly. “You simply wish to wring his neck,” Howaniec stated.
