A South Portland man was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland to five years in prison on gun and drug trafficking charges.
Joshua Hopkins, 33, pleaded guilty on Feb. 21 to possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of fentanyl and cocaine with intent to distribute.
Hopkins was arrested on an outstanding warrant in April 2023 after investigators found him at a South Portland hotel, according to court documents cited by the U.S. Department of Justice in a news release. At the time, he had a backpack containing bags of suspected cocaine, containers of suspected fentanyl, scales, a single bullet, a blender containing suspected fentanyl powder, and a substance suspected of being used to “cut” drugs.
A man with Hopkins at the time told police that Hopkins supplied him with drugs and had a rifle in his car, which police found and matched with the bullet in the backpack, according to the DOJ.
Because of prior felony convictions, Hopkins was prohibited from having a gun and ammunition.
