A jury deliberated for just over an hour Friday in New London Superior Court before the foreman announced the six members had found a 56-year-old man guilty of operating a cocaine "drug factory" out of his Norwich home.

Dennis Foster faces a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for possession of cocaine with intent to sell by a non-drug-dependent person and could be sentenced to additional prison time for possession of drug paraphernalia and operation of a drug factory.

Norwich police searched the two-family home at 94 Wawecus Hill Road on Aug. 6, 2015, and said they found 28 grams of powder cocaine and three grams of crack cocaine on the ground in the backyard and an additional six grams of cocaine secreted in the basement. The police said they seized a glass jar and bowl with residue that indicated Foster had used them to cook the cocaine into crack rocks, baking soda and another powder used as cutting agents, a digital scale and plastic bags. They said they seized a shoe box stuffed with $10,000 in cash along with an additional $600 cash. They also said Foster had $1,000 on his person.

The trial took place before Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed. Prosecutor Paul J. Narducci, assisted by Inspector Timothy Pitkin, elicited testimony from Norwich police officers and forensic specialists from the state Forensic Sciences Laboratory.

Defense attorney William T. Koch Jr. called on family and friends of Foster who offered several reasons why Foster might have large amounts of cash on him. According to testimony, Foster earned money by buying electronics and other items in the United States and reselling them to people in Jamaica. His daughter testified that she belonged to a Savings Club in which she and 30 others each contributed $100 a week and each week one member received the sum of the contributions. A man who said he lived at the home rent-free testified that he had received cash disbursement from an inheritance and asked Foster to hold some of his cash because he has a gambling problem.

As his case was headed to trial in December 2017, Foster was arrested again on crack cocaine charges after police said they found a quarter-ounce of cocaine/crack cocaine, $3,500 cash, narcotics packaging materials, cutting agents, two cellphones and a scale inside the residence. The judge allowed some evidence from the recent arrest to be introduced at the trial but instructed the jury to use the information for a limited purpose.

Foster has additional cases pending, including for second-degree assault and breach of peace. He had posted a total of $750,000 bond and has been on home confinement leading up to the trial. Jongbloed increased the bond by $100,000 based on the guilty verdicts and Foster was taken into custody.

He will be sentenced May 11.

k.florin@theday.com