PORTLAND — The father of an Auburn man charged earlier this year in connection with a federal drug raid in the Twin Cities appeared in court Monday.
Daniel Poland III of D.L.P. Builders Inc. was charged in a 41-count indictment in October with making false statements to the Internal Revenue Service in May and July.
His son, Tyler Poland, also was named in the indictment on charges of possession with intent to distribute MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, and possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
Tyler Poland of TY Properties, LLC, was also indicted on money laundering charges involving a cash payment of $200,000 made to an unnamed person and company using money from drug proceeds, according to the indictment.
Tyler Poland was charged with making illegal money transactions by depositing cash from drug proceeds totaling $50,000 in a local bank account. He also was charged with destruction or removal of property to prevent search or seizure by transferring $220,000 from a TD Bank account in the name of TY Construction, LLC to a different bank account held in the name of his father, Daniel, according to the indictment.
On Monday, a judge in U.S. District Court, quizzed Daniel Poland about statements he made to federal agents during an earlier interview.
“Did you tell agents you had $300,000 hidden under a rock?” Judge George Z. Singal asked.
“No,” Poland said. He said he told the agents he had some cash to pay subcontractors on a construction job, but never specifically named an amount. They asked him if it was from $10,000 to $300,000, naming increments between those figures. He answered, “Something like that.”
Asked whether he told them he had hidden the money under a rock, Poland said he couldn’t recall, but later told the judge he believed an agent, not he, had referred to hiding money under a rock pile. That reference had not been related to the cash he had on hand, he said.
Poland told the judge he no longer had any of that cash.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Joyce said Monday that Poland had told agents he had accumulated most of the money in question over the past decade and hadn’t declared it on his tax returns.
The issue arose when Poland applied for a court-appointed attorney.
Attorney David Bobrow, who represented Poland on Monday, advised his client not to answer questions about whether he had paid taxes on cash he used to pay subcontractors.
A federal grand jury handed up a 41-count indictment against more than a dozen suspects — largely from Lewiston and Auburn — stemming from federal raids in the Twin Cities area in February.
The aim of the raids was to bust a medical marijuana-growing operation that illegally sold surplus pot and derivatives, according to police and federal drug agents.
Prosecutors alleged the drug-trafficking organization grew and distributed large amounts of marijuana under the cover of Maine’s medical marijuana program, but sold marijuana to buyers who were not participants in the program and included out-of-state customers.
Yehudi Pardo, 33, of Boston was charged with attempted possession with intent to distribute marijuana, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. He is scheduled to appear in court Thursday for arraignment and bail discussion.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
An IRS investigator walks up the driveway of Tyler Poland’s home and office on Merrow Road in Auburn during the February drug bust in Lewiston and Auburn. (Sun Journal file photo)
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