Feds take over prosecution of Lebanon man's drug case

Christopher Blier (Sanford Police photos)

PORTLAND, Maine - In a surprise move, federal prosecutors have taken over the case of a Lebanon man arrested on drug trafficking charges in July.

Christopher S. Blier, 31, whose address has been given as 701 Upper Guinea Road, was arrested July 22 around 8:15 p.m. near Robertson's Power and Sports after police received a dispatch call that he was seen on Lebanon Street in Sanford "all over the road".

While police were conducting the traffic stop, Sanford Police officers spotted drugs in the car and ordered him to get out.

When he attempted to flee, police pulled him out of the vehicle and arrested him, according to a police press release at the time.

Some of the drugs and money found during a traffic stop in Sanford involving Christopher Blier of Lebanon.

Blier was initially charged with aggravated trafficking, refusing to submit to arrest, obstructing government administration, suspended registration and sale/use of drug paraphernalia.

The York County prosecutor's office ultimately reduced the number of charges to two - felony aggravated trafficking and criminal forfeiture, normally a charge concerning authorities' seizure of the vehicle used to transport illegal commodities, in this case allegedly fentanyl.

Blier's charges were picked up by the feds on Dec. 19, and he was removed from the York County Jail, a jail spokesman said on Tuesday.

Soon after, the county charges were replaced by a single federal charge of possession with intent to distribute a mixture containing fentanyl, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie Guerrette of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Portland, the lead prosecutor in the case.

The new charge is punishable by anywhere from about eight years to 17 and a half years in federal prison, depending on Blier's criminal record, violence level during his alleged criminal enterprise and injury that may have been caused due to any criminal activity among other factors.

On Tuesday Blair went before a federal judge in Portland and was released on an unsecured property bond of $10,000, according to court records obtained by The Lebanon Voice.

Shortly after his July arrest the significance of the bust came clear when the head of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency's Biddeford office, Pete Madore, called it "a substantial seizure for this area."

Madore estimated the street value of 128 gross grams of heroin seized from Blier's car at around $20,000. Officers also found more than $10,000 cash in Blier's possession.

In a bizarre twist, Blier's arrest that night wasn't his first contact with lawmen that day.

Earlier in the day around 3:45 p.m. Blier crashed his BMW in the area of 822 Center Road in Lebanon, telling Maine State Police he had swerved to avoid a dog.

Maine State Police Trooper Rick Spicer said despite Blier's alleged stash of drugs and money found by Sanford Police later that night, when he talked with Blier there was no reason to believe he was under the influence of anything, and there was no contraband in his car.

"There was no impairment and he had the trunk and everything open and clear," Spicer said, adding he couldn't speculate on whether Blier could have removed or hidden evidence prior to his arrival.

Once the BMW was towed, Blier walked to a relative's home that was nearby, Spicer said.

A child in the car with Blier at the time of the crash was evaluated by town EMS personnel, but no transport was necessary, according to Lebanon Fire and EMS.

Blier's Facebook Page notes he went to Nute High School in Milton.

Neighbors told The Lebanon Voice last July they either never or extremely rarely saw an adult male frequent the Lebanon address on Upper Guinea Road.

All of the neighbors interviewed asked that their names not be used.

As of Wednesday future court dates in the case had yet to be scheduled.