Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Maine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Portland, Maine:  A South Portland man was sentenced today in federal court in Portland for holding for sale a counterfeit drug and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced.

U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby sentenced Colin Harle, 23, to five years in prison and three years of supervised release. Harle pleaded guilty on July 15, 2019.

According to court records, on August 27, 2018, law enforcement officers arrested Harle in South Portland following his attempted sale of counterfeit alprazolam (commonly sold under the brand name Xanax) pills. After Harle’s arrest, officers learned that he had a safe under his control. Officers located the safe in Westbrook and found about 20,000 counterfeit pills, $5,480 in U.S. currency, and a 9 mm pistol with two full magazines.

The Food and Drug Administration’s Forensic Chemistry Center confirmed that alprazolam was present in the pills and that the pills were counterfeit.

FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency investigated the case.

Topic(s):
Drug Trafficking
Component(s):
USAO - Maine
Contact:
David B. Joyce Assistant United States Attorney Tel: (207) 780-3257