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 Nicholas Schwarz - , 26, of South Portland, Maine was sentenced in United States District Court by Judge George Z. Singal to more than four (53 months) in prison and four years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute heroin. Schwarz pleaded guilty to the offense on May 14, 2013.

According to court records, from 2011 until February 2013, the conspirators, led by Mitch Merritt, obtained kilogram quantities of heroin in Lawrence, Massachusetts that was distributed to customers in Maine and New Hampshire by Merritt, Schwarz, 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.