On late Sunday evening, the Rumford Police drug canine team stopped a vehicle on Hancock Street in Rumford after receiving multiple complaints of erratic operation from the public and after observing a vehicle defect.

During the traffic stop, officers discovered a man hiding face down on the floorboard of the back-seat compartment of the vehicle. When the officers attempted to identify the man and determine the reason for his furtive conduct, the man became uncooperative and non-compliant as he started reaching inside his pants pockets for something after being told not to. Fearing that the man may be reaching for a weapon, the officers subsequently struggled with the man to gain control of him and subsequently restrained him in handcuffs. Although a pat-down search revealed no dangerous weapons, police quickly determined that the man was attempting to reach for three bags of drugs concealed in his pants.

Officers subsequently seized approximately 60 grams of fentanyl and 15 grams of crack cocaine. The seizure represents approximately 600 individual, potentially fatal doses of fentanyl and 45 doses of crack cocaine. The combined street value for the drugs is estimated at approximately $17,000.

The man was arrested but refused to identify himself. Officers were eventually able to confirm that the man was 29 year old Jerry Philogene from Roxbury, Massachusetts and that he had been arrested and convicted by Maine Drug Enforcement Agency three years ago for felony aggravated drug trafficking on Chase Avenue in Mexico.

Phillogene has been charged with Aggravated Trafficking in Scheduled Drugs, Class A felony, Refusing To Submit To Arrest or Detention, Class D misdemeanor and Failure To Provide Name and Address, Class E misdemeanor. If convicted, Philogene faces up to 30 years in prison for the drug trafficking charge. Philogene was transported to the Oxford County Jail in South Paris where a friend posted $5,000.00 cash bail hours later.

Philogene is expected to appear for his initial arraignment at the Maine District Court in Rumford on August 10^th at 8:30 a.m.

Rumford PD is committed to being vigilant in the detection and seizure of dangerous drugs being imported into the community and holding accountable to the fullest extent of the law those who willfully come to Maine to profit off from those struggling with drug addiction. The department’s success in this mission is credited to good team work, from the attentive officers on patrol, to officers locally conducting covert investigations, to the use of the department’s drug-certified K9 to detect the presence of drugs, to the partnerships and collaborations Rumford PD has built with the public and other law enforcement agencies – all effectively working together for the common goal of trying to make the River Valley area a safe community to work, live and play.

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