PORTLAND, Maine: A Portland man and a South Portland man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Portland for their roles in a drug trafficking conspiracy.
According to court records, from May 2024 through April 2025, a group of drug traffickers worked with a Massachusetts supplier to distribute drugs in southern Maine. In November 2024, as part of the investigation into this drug ring, law enforcement officers arrested Daniel Lydon, 46, who was located in a hotel room with over 100 grams of methamphetamine, over 700 grams of fentanyl powder, and approximately $4,000 in cash. A search of Lydon’s phone confirmed he had been working with the Massachusetts supplier and communicating about the distribution of drugs. Later in the investigation, law enforcement developed information that Michael Myrick, 48, was using his South Portland residence to distribute drugs for the same Massachusetts supplier. In March 2025, investigators received evidence of ongoing communications between the Massachusetts supplier and Myrick, which confirmed he was receiving drugs, including fentanyl, and distributing them to associates and customers in southern Maine.
Lydon faces a mandatory minimum term of 10 years and up to life imprisonment, up to a $10 million fine, and up to a lifetime of supervised release. Myrick faces a mandatory minimum term of 5 years and up to 40 years imprisonment, up to a $5 million fine, and up to a lifetime of supervised release.
Both men will be sentenced after the completion of presentence investigative reports by the U.S. Probation Office. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Additional subjects have been charged with offenses related to the same drug-trafficking ring. Maximo Pepin, aka Manny , 30, of Massachusetts, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on May 7, 2026, having pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy. Alec Dodge , 35, of South Portland, Matthew Estes , 47, of Falmouth, and Patrick McCarthy , 34 , of Scarborough, have previously pleaded guilty to a federal drug conspiracy offense. Peter Call , 31, of Portland, Cassandra Smith , 36, of Old Orchard Beach, and Nicholas Porter , 35, of Windham, are indicted co-defendants with Lydon and Myrick, and are all scheduled for change of plea hearings in U.S. District Court.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigated this case, with assistance from the FBI, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Maine State Police, the Portland Police Department, the South Portland Police Department, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, and the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. The Maine HSTF comprises agents and officers from FBI; DEA; Homeland Security Investigations; IRS-Criminal Investigations; U.S. Marshals Service; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Diplomatic Security Service; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Border Patrol; Coast Guard Investigative Service; and Transportation Security Administration, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine.
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Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Maine — U.S. Department of Justice press release.