Buxton Man Sentenced to 20 Years on Drug and Firearms Trafficking Charges

Portland, Maine:  Acting United States Attorney Richard W. Murphy announced that Dale Pinkham, 57, of Buxton, Maine, was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Portland to 20 years in prison following convictions for Conspiracy to Distribute Heroin, Conspiracy to Possess Stolen Firearms and Attempted Witness Tampering.

Three co-conspirators, Dale M. Pinkham Jr., 26, Raymond T. Pinkham, 23, and Robert C. Bean-Pinkham, 21, also of Buxton, Maine, pled guilty and were sentenced by the Court last year.  In April 2016, Robert Bean-Pinkham was sentenced to 40 months in prison for conspiring to possess and possessing stolen firearms. That same month Dale Pinkham Jr. was sentenced to 64 months in prison for conspiring to distribute heroin, conspiring to possess stolen firearms and possessing firearms as a prohibited person. In May 2016, Raymond Pinkham was sentenced to 52 months in prison for conspiring to possess and possessing stolen firearms.  

According to court records, from around November 2012 until November 2014, Pinkham conspired with members of his family and others to distribute heroin. Pinkham traveled with Dale Pinkham Jr. to obtain heroin from a source in the Lawrence, Massachusetts area. On December 6, 2013, a search warrant executed at the Pinkhams’ residence in Buxton resulted in the seizure of about 20 grams of heroin and numerous firearms. Agents also recovered a stolen firearm from a vehicle operated by Raymond Pinkham. On October 11, 2014, a search warrant executed at the Pinkhams’ Buxton residence resulted in the seizure of seven stolen firearms. In November 2014, law enforcement agents recovered 11 additional stolen firearms possessed by the co-conspirators. The Court found that between May 2013 and September 2014, Pinkham was distributing no less than 200 grams of heroin per month. The Court also found that Pinkham encouraged his heroin customers to commit thefts and burglaries in order to obtain valuable items to trade for heroin, including firearms, electronics and building materials. Pinkham also traded firearms to his Massachusetts supplier in exchange for heroin.

Pinkham was arrested on October 11, 2014, and has remained in state or federal custody since that date. While incarcerated, the Court found, Pinkham directed family members and co-conspirators to relocate stolen firearms from the Buxton residence to avoid their recovery by law enforcement. Writing from jail, Pinkham directed family members to locate and threaten suspected government witnesses, provide false information to law enforcement, and contact his heroin source in Massachusetts in an effort to perpetuate the drug trafficking conspiracy.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Maine State Police, with assistance from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the York and Cumberland County Sheriff’s Offices, the Buxton Police Department, and the Office of the Maine Attorney General. This case was investigated and prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s Strategy to Combat the Opioid Epidemic.