BETHEL — Oxford County deputy sheriffs have seized 152 marijuana plants and processed pot at four sites in Bethel, Albany Township, Newry and Canton recently.
Other than the Newry marijuana, the pot seized was worth several thousand dollars in estimated street value, Cpl. Chancey Libby said early Thursday evening.
Acting on a tip on Sept. 7, Libby said deputies working with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency found 49 pot plants and a man tending them in the woods in Bethel. The man, Libby said, admitted the plants were his and was “staying in a tent with his plants,” which were within the tree line.
“These were some of the best plants we’ve found all year,” Libby said. “He was expecting to make $20,000 to $40,000 from them.”
The deputies seized the plants, which were well over 6 feet tall, and a loaded revolver with him in his tent.
“He claimed it was for protection from bears,” Libby said.
However, deputies didn’t find any evidence of bears in the area, he said.
“The guy was real cooperative,” he said. “He doesn’t have any criminal history.”
Libby said the man hasn’t been charged with marijuana cultivation, because deputies are awaiting an Oxford County grand jury indictment.
About two hours later, the deputy sheriffs received a call from a dispatcher in Paris that a burglary had occurred within the past 45 minutes at a Songo Pond Road summer home of a Florida resident.
Libby said the homeowner left for about 15 minutes, then returned to learn someone had broken in and made off with medication.
Arriving Sgts. Tim Ontengco and Timothy Holland, and Deputy Joshua Wyman, asked for a tracking dog, which headed to a house across the town line in Albany Township. When they reached the house, Libby said the deputies could smell marijuana and got a search warrant.
Inside, they seized 56 marijuana plants, drug paraphernalia, 2 to 3 pounds of dried marijuana worth $1,500 per pound, a police-issued shotgun, several kinds of ammunition and two tactical vests that had the word “Police” written on the back of them, he said.
Libby said police are seeking a man and a woman whom they say were living at the house.
Deputies didn’t find any stolen medication, he said.
“I’ve been told that when a dog is trying to smell air scent, it will have its nose up in the air trying to get whiffs to follow, but this dog’s nose was crammed right to the ground and he ran pretty much right to their doorstep,” he said.
He said that could indicate that maybe it wasn’t the house occupants but someone they knew, or the burglar.
On Sept. 8, Wyman and Libby were looking for two suspects in a case Wyman was working when they stopped to check a house at 9 Birch Road in Newry, Libby said. Homeowner Luke Mueller, 39, was summoned on a charge of misdemeanor marijuana cultivation and will be arraigned on Oct. 9 in 11th District Court in Rumford.
Following tips Wednesday, Libby said they found seven pot plants growing in plain sight beside a garden at 9 Hayford Court in Canton. The marijuana could be smelled from the road. Charges are pending completion of the investigation, he said.
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