Maine Drug Enforcement agents and State Fire Marshals have charged a man and woman from New York with selling heroin and attempting to burn down a Richmond house Wednesday night, May 1.

The two arrived in Richmond in a taxi rented in Portland. They had arrived by bus earlier in the day from New York and were intent on collecting drug money debt. En route to the house they stopped at a convenience store where they bought a can of gasoline. A car parked in the driveway of the Richmond home, on Pitts Corner Road, was destroyed by fire and gasoline was also spread throughout the house . The two occupants of the house, a woman and her teenage daughter, fled unharmed and there was minor fire damage to the house, but there was a heavy smell of gasoline throughout the home. The two intruders then left in the same taxi and the car was stopped by police shortly afterwards along Interstate 295 in Topsham.

Arrested were Todd Dickson, 26, and Joris Gomez, 25, both from New York City. Fire Marshals charged the two with two counts of arson, along with burglary and theft. Drug agents have charged both with aggravated trafficking in heroin. The two were taken to Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset.

On Tuesday, April 30, drug agents arrested another woman who has been living at the Richmond home on a charge of selling heroin.  Lorretta Susan Perkins, 27, was arrested in Wiscasset. Seized from her during the arrest was crack cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine. Agents also seized $1,000 in cash and drug ledger books. Agents then began looking for Dickson and Gomez as the suppliers of the drugs. Wiscasset Police and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office assisted agents with the Wiscasset arrest. Perkins was taken to Two Bridges. Topsham, Brunswick and Richmond Police, along with the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the Richmond fire and its aftermath. Richmond Fire Department put out the fires.