A California man pleaded guilty on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to his role in a scheme to ship methamphetamine to Down East Maine.
From May 2022 to March 2023, Alex Hanna, 30, coordinated shipments of methamphetamine from a source in California to multiple people who distributed it in Down East Maine, according to court records cited by the U.S. Department of Justice in a news release.
Hanna found people willing to have deliveries of methamphetamine shipped to their address by the U.S. Postal Service or find other addresses where the packages could be delivered.
In addition to the drug conspiracy charge, Hanna pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering, according to the DOJ. He did this by getting people in Maine to send money and proceeds from the meth sales to his source in California using money transfer services, including Walmart2Walmart, Cash App and Venmo.
Hanna faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison on the drug conspiracy charge and a maximum fine of $10 million. For the money laundering charge, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine or twice the amount involved in the transaction, whichever is greater.
The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, FBI, Ellsworth Police Department, Holden Police Department, and Hancock County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case with help from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
