Wilton police seized hundreds of illegally cultivated marijuana plants and about 200 pounds of dried marijuana Tuesday at a building in the former G.H. Bass Shoe property at 128 Weld Road in Wilton. Police Chief Ethan Kyes said Thursday that police have a suspect and are continuing their investigation. Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal
WILTON — Police have a suspect in the large, illegal marijuana cultivation operation discovered Tuesday at the former G.H. Bass shoe building at 128 Weld Road, Police Chief Ethan Kyes said Thursday.
“We are continuing our investigation,” he said. “We have a person of interest. Charges are pending.”
Wilton police accompanied the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy on a routine inspection of a licensed operation on the property Tuesday. During the inspection police received information that someone had constructed an unlicensed cultivation facility in a different building on the property. Kyes contacted property owner Travis Gray who led them through the property.
Gray had nothing to do with the illegal operation, Kyes said.
Police and the state agency found about 1,211 illegally cultivated live marijuana plants and about 200 pounds of illegally cultivated dried marijuana. The total value of the cultivated marijuana was estimated by the state agency at $1,000,000, Kyes said.
The plants were destroyed by putting them through a wood chipper and spreading them throughout the property with Gray’s approval, he said.
Police were assisted by Wilton fire rescue, public works and code enforcement.
The large complex sits on about 4 acres and has several buildings that are connected, along with stand-alone buildings.
Gray was not immediately available for comment Thursday.
The Office of Cannabis Policy has authority to regulate only activities within the state’s medical and adult use cannabis programs and among these programs’ licensed operators, Soucy wrote in an email. When the agency uncovers, becomes aware of, or receives intelligence about illegal drug activity in Maine, it works closely with federal and local partners to determine the best course of action to disrupt and dismantle illegal drug activities in Maine and to ensure the successful prosecution of such activities, she wrote.
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