I think this may have to be my favourite profile of the week.
“The Chinese want to hide,” said Marty Vachon. “And I’m their frontman.”
The 87-year-old self-described “frontman” for an elaborate Chinese-run drug trafficking organization active in rural Maine told the Maine Wire that he’s been living with a family of black market marijuana growers for nearly three years and helping them with electrical upgrades at facilities throughout the state.
In exchange for his services, the immigrant family feeds him, provides some level of medical care, and takes him almost everywhere they go.
That was just one of the stunning details revealed by J. Martin Vachon, a master electrician from Ellsworth, over the course of an hour-long phone interview — details that are confirmed by extensive research into public records maintained by the state of Maine.
Vachon revealed never-before-reported details of Chinese-owned marijuana growing operations in Maine and the electrical work he’s performed at the facilities for more than three years, as well as the network’s ties to at least one seemingly-legitimate Penobscot County business.
“They hurt no one,” said Vachon.
“These Chinese people are hardworking people, they saw an opportunity to make a buck and they’re trying to, okay, but they’re not hurting anybody,” Vachon said.
The Triad’s Electrician: Meet the 87-Year-Old “Frontman” for Chinese Marijuana Grows in Maine
