PORTLAND — A Lewiston man charged with drug trafficking will remain behind bars after a federal judge said Tuesday that he posed a danger to the community.

Matthew Mennealy submitted photo

Matthew Mennealy, 43, appeared in U.S. District Court in an orange jail suit, accompanied by U.S. marshals.

Through his lawyer, Edward MacColl, Mennealy asked U.S. District Magistrate Judge Karen Frink Wolf to allow him to transfer from jail into St. Francis Recovery Center in Auburn for residential substance abuse rehabilitation once he has been screened and a bed has opened for him.

Mennealy had been on three years of supervised release after serving a seven-year prison sentence stemming from a 2016 conviction on federal drug and gun charges.

Since then, he was arrested in Lewiston in October 2023 and charged on a felony drug charge for which he was convicted and sentenced in state court to a four-year suspended sentence.

On Aug. 11, a Lewiston police officer tried to conduct a traffic stop about 12:20 a.m. when Mennealy sped up and turned down several city streets before pulling to the curb, according to court documents.

When Mennealy stepped out of the vehicle, the officer saw several items fall to the ground.

The officer noticed the passenger window was down and suspected Mennealy had tossed something out the window after the officer had activated his lights and siren.

Officers retraced the route traveled by Mennealy and recovered a black sock with a green heal and toe. In it were roughly 18 grams of cocaine and 17 grams of psilocybin mushrooms. Police also recovered a black case in the vehicle that contained two grams of crack cocaine, according to court documents.

Mennealy was charged with felony drug trafficking, unlawful possession of crack cocaine and unlawful possession of scheduled drug, as well as two misdemeanors.

His probation officer said in court documents that Mennealy also had violated his probation by admitting to using cocaine that day and for failing to show up for a drug test in June.

MacColl said Tuesday his client had “done very well” in drug treatment programs at St. Francis before as well as at a New Hampshire county jail.

“He’s had a serious drug addiction problem since he was in his 20s,”MacColl said.

He said he was “trying to get him on a plan to get sober.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Green urged the judge to deny Mennealy’s request for release.

Wolf said Mennealy hadn’t met the “high” burden of showing he would not pose a danger to the community if released from jail.

She said the behavior he displayed on Aug. 11 was “extremely dangerous,” by allegedly eluding police and throwing illegal drugs onto the street.

“I know you know what you need to do,” she told Mennealy. “I don’t want you to give up.”