I’d Like A New Car Please……Police In Maine Aided Illegal Cannabis Operation Say Feds

This is not good. Could it be happening in other jurisdictions around the country?

Westport News reports

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Two sheriff’s deputies accepted new cars and an ownership stake in an operation that illegally sold more than $13 million in pot grown for Maine’s medical marijuana program, federal prosecutors said.

Two other law enforcement officers and a prosecutor aided the operation by providing intelligence and tipping off participants, prosecutors said.

Federal documents unsealed Wednesday when one of the defendants pleaded guilty revealed an elaborate program in which marijuana that was grown in western Maine for registered caregivers was sold outside the program, with profits being laundered through a corporate structure.

Twelve people were charged in the 14-count complaint, including a Rangeley select board member, an assistant district attorney, two Franklin County sheriff’s deputies, an Oxford County sheriff’s deputy and a Wilton police officer.

The Franklin County deputies accepted ownership interests and cars in exchange for confidential information, according to the complaint. The prosecutor allegedly tipped off a corrupt police officer about the investigation, and two other officers allegedly warned the Franklin County deputies they were under surveillance, the complaint said.

The president of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association said the alleged involvement of officers was “very upsetting.”

Read more at

https://www.westport-news.com/news/article/Police-aided-illegal-marijuana-operation-in-16571411.php

Also see

Court documents at

https://wgme.com/news/local/court-documents-untangle-alleged-conspiracy-to-sell-drugs-involving-law-enforcement

Farmington man accused of running $13 million illegal pot distribution ring makes 1st court appearance

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