FARMINGTON — A District Court judge set bail Friday for a father and son from Carthage accused of heroin trafficking at $8,000 cash and $15,000 cash, respectively.

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Robbins told the court that evidence led to a search warrant for two Carthage residences, where it appeared a large volume of heroin was being supplied to the Rumford, Carthage, Mexico and Farmington areas.

Franklin County Detective Stephen Charles arrested Russell C. Smith, 51, and his son, Anthony W. Smith, 30, on Thursday. Each was charged with one felony count of unlawful trafficking in heroin and one misdemeanor charge of unlawful possession of a scheduled drug. Anthony Smith also was charged with a misdemeanor count of falsifying physical evidence.

Officers from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, Maine State Police and Maine Drug Enforcement Agency conducted the search warrants at the older Smith’s residence at Winter Hill Road and the neighboring residence of his son at 41 Tainter Corner Road on Thursday.

Robbins asked the court to set Anthony Smith’s bail at $15,000 cash. He has a probation violation in another county, Robbins said.

Among the conditions that Justice Lance Ward ordered, including no possession or use of illegal drugs, alcohol or weapons, were no contact with his father; his brother, Jonathan Smith, 27, of Mexico, a co-defendant in the case who was arrested Wednesday in Mexico on drug charges in Oxford County; and another potential co-defendant.

Anthony Smith was also prohibited from returning to Winter Hill Road.

Robbins said that apparently Anthony Smith swallowed a bag of heroin while his residence was being searched. After he was booked at the Franklin County jail in Farmington, the drug started to take effect and he was taken to a hospital. He also attempted to commit suicide by tying a shoelace around his neck while at the jail and prior to being taken to the hospital, according to Charles’ affidavit filed with the court.

Robbins asked for $10,000 cash bail for Russell Smith and that he have no contact with his sons or the other potential co-defendant. Robbins also asked that Smith not be allowed to return to his residence at Winter Hill Road.

Defense attorney Tom Carey said he didn’t understand Robbins’ request that Russell Smith not return to his home and not have contact with the potential co-defendant, since the person was not listed as being charged with a crime.

Robbins said the probable cause affidavit does not reveal all of the evidence in the case.

“Mr. Smith acknowledges he has a substance abuse problem,” Carey said, but he does not have any criminal history of drug violations. It was very possible his sons were using his residence for selling heroin, he said.

He asked for $2,500 cash or surety bail and that Russell Smith be allowed to return to his home. He is not a flight risk, Carey said.

All of the transactions center around the home, Robbins said. Text messages have also been taken into evidence, he said.

“This is a really serious drug-dealing case,” he said. This is not a small volume of goods being sold, he said.

Walker said given the increase in heroin addiction and articles written about it, he set bail at $8,000 cash and approved Robbins’ requested conditions.

According to Detective Charles’ probable cause affidavit, a search of the older Smith’s residence revealed:

* A container of heroin in Russell Smith’s dresser drawer in his bedroom;

* A pill crusher with powder that Russell Smith admitted was heroin and that tested positive for the drug;

* A plastic bag containing numerous empty gel capsules that Russell Smith admitted were used for individual heroin packaging;

* A set of scales with powder residue; and

* A large amount of U.S. currency.

Russell Smith told Charles several thousand dollars were from a loan on a retirement account but were suspected as drug proceeds.

Also found was a large amount of paraphernalia consistent with ingesting powdered narcotics such as heroin or cocaine through nasal passages, as well as for processing and smoking cocaine, the affidavit states.

Russell Smith told a drug agent that he had a substance abuse problem and said he had been using a half gram of heroin per day for a significant period of time, the document states.

Russell Smith also told the agent that his sons had been using heroin heavily and selling it as well, the affidavit states. He said the sons were storing heroin in Jonathan’s car, which is stored at Russell’s house.

According to Charles’ affidavit, Anthony Smith told him that he had used the last two .1-gram packages of heroin on Wednesday because he was aware law enforcement was getting close. Anthony had fresh marks on the back of his left hand, consistent with needle marks. Anthony admitted they were from his recent intravenous heroin use. He did not admit or deny that he was selling heroin but told Charles he had cleaned everything out of his residence and did not have anything there at the time, according to the document.

Franklin County Lt. David St. Laurent informed Charles that law enforcement officials seized ketamine, a horse tranquilizer, used hypodermic needles, a set of digital scales with powder residue consistent with heroin and/or cocaine, other drug paraphernalia and Anthony’s cellphone were seized.

According to the affidavit, Charles said he had obtained direct information regarding Anthony’s arranging and agreeing to sell amounts of heroin and crack cocaine to several different people over several weeks.

NOTE: This story has been changed since it was initially published to reflect the correct spelling of Stephen Charles’ first name. It was a reporting error.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net