PORTLAND — A Connecticut man arrested last year for bringing crack cocaine to Auburn was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to more than 16 years in prison.

Markevin Faucette, 40, of Hartford, Conn., and Lewiston was in a car with two women when it was stopped while leaving the Maine Turnpike in Auburn.

Drug officials said the three were bringing a shipment of drugs to Lewiston to sell. Authorities seized 47 grams of crack cocaine.

Faucette pleaded guilty in October 2013 to conspiracy to distribute cocaine base and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base, also known as crack cocaine.

His prison sentence will be followed by eight years on supervised release.

He was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Portland by Judge D. Brock Hornby.

On Jan. 9, 2013, Faucette, Margoliz Velazquez of Hartford, Conn., and Amanda Rodriguez of Auburn were stopped in Auburn as they left the turnpike.

Based on that seizure and other drug trips made between Connecticut and Maine, Faucette was held responsible for over 500 grams of cocaine base, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney David Joyce.

Faucette received an enhanced sentence as a “career offender” because he had five prior felony drug-trafficking convictions in Connecticut, Virginia and North Carolina, according to Joyce.

The case was investigated by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Lewiston, Auburn and Lisbon police departments.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com