Portland, Maine: 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 years (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 Forces (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.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
