Sun, 11/20/2016 - 3:00pm

Sarah Shepherd

ROCKLAND — A Rockland woman was sentenced Nov. 17 in Knox County Unified Court to 30 months in prison after she pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and forgery for producing counterfeit money.

Charlotte E. Shellman, 42, was arrested March 15 by Rockland Police for producing counterfeit money, along with Charles H. Dodge, 33, of Rockland.

Shellman was also charged with unlawful possession of scheduled W drugs, a Class D felony.

Dodge was sentenced in June to six months in jail for aggravated forgery.

The arrests in March followed an investigation by Detective Sgt. Russell Thompson and Detective Joel Neal, who were assisted by agents from Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

According to court documents, Dodge allegedly gave a confidential informant with the MDEA $400 in $50 dollar bill denominations. The informant told Dodge that the money “did not look right” and asked if it was fake and Dodge allegedly said the bills were, and that he was able to print them.

Based on information MDEA provided to local police that the pair had been producing counterfeit money and passing it off as real during drug deals, a search warrant was conducted March 15 around 4:30 p.m., at the Thomaston Street residence where Dodge and Shellman had been staying.

Evidence seized during the search included a printer/scanner and counterfeit $50 bills, which were strewn around the bedroom, said police. The search also revealed packaging for suboxone that was located in Shellman’s purse and coat pocket, along with a spoon with residue and a syringe in a nightstand, according to the court documents.

Shellman admitted to police that she was using suboxone and did not have a prescription for it. She also told police that she was printing the money to be used when she played poker, said the police report.