United States Drug Enforcement Administration

PORTLAND, Maine - John J. Arvanitis, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England and United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Mitch Merritt - , 30, of Rochester, New Hampshire and Scott Woodman - , 29, of Farmington, New Hampshire were sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge George Z. Singal for their involvement in a heroin distribution conspiracy.  Merritt was sentenced to over 12½ (151 months) in prison and five years of supervised release. Woodman was sentenced to over five (65 months) in prison and three years of supervised release.  The defendants pleaded guilty to the offense on May 7, 2013.

According to court records, from 2011 until February 2013, Merritt led a group of individuals who obtained kilogram quantities of heroin in Lawrence, Massachusetts that was distributed to customers in Maine and New Hampshire by Merritt, Woodman, and others.  Numerous home burglaries and shoplifting crimes were committed by customers to pay for that heroin.

This case was investigated by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency; the New Hampshire and Maine State Police; the York County Sheriff’s Office; and the Rochester, New Hampshire Police Department; and results from the ongoing effort of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.