An Auburn man has been arrested after he allegedly had more than 30 pounds of fentanyl delivered to a local restaurant.
Jeremy Mercier, 41, was charged with aggravated importation of scheduled drugs and aggravated trafficking of scheduled drugs, both felonies. He also was charged with violating his bail conditions, according to Timothy Cougle, the deputy chief at the Auburn Police Department.
Mercier allegedly had a large wooden crate from Arizona delivered to an Auburn restaurant on Friday. Employees believed it was an order of mugs, but upon opening it, they found a plastic tote filled with several black-wrapped bags containing fentanyl, Cougle said Saturday night.
The fentanyl was worth an estimated $3 million.
Mercier, who was listed as the contact on the shipment and didn’t work at the restaurant, was arrested when he came by asking about the crate, Cougle said.
In addition to the fentanyl, police seized from Mercier $2,780 in suspected drug proceeds.
Mercier previously served several years in federal prison for a 2007 conviction for cocaine trafficking.
He was being held without bail at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn.
