Triad Weed: Kennebec Sheriff's Office, two more illegal pot grows – no arrests

The Kennebec County Sheriff's Office executed search warrants Thursday at two unlicensed marijuana grow operations — one in Farmingdale and one in Manchester — according to a news release.

The first arrest warrant was executed Thursday morning in Manchester following reports from neighbors that a strong odor of marijuana was emanating from the building and that the building was being used as an illegal cultivation site.

Police arrived at 399 Pond Road, Manchester, around 9:40 a.m., where they found an old farmhouse that had been converted into a large marijuana grow operation.

Police found the building empty of anyone, but discovered and seized 1,168 illegally grown marijuana plants.

Records show the farm was purchased by Yung C. Zhang, of Brighton, Massachusetts, in February 2021.

Zhang then paid off the remaining mortgage in full on March 16 this year.

Property records show that after Zhang paid off the mortgage, she sold it to another person, Hui Ming Lei, also from Brighton.

Records suggest that, shortly after transferring the property to Lei, Zhang repurchased it for $200,000, although the order of the transfers is unclear as the relevant documents were all filed on the same day, the March 26.

The other search warrant was executed almost exactly an hour after the first, at 10:39 a.m., in Farmingdale.

Law enforcement arrived at 18 Sheldon Street and found the building empty of residents and marijuana plants.

Although no plants were seized, police found evidence that a large quantity of marijuana had recently been harvested.

The Sheriff's Department press release did not indicate when they believed the marijuana was harvested.

The Maine Wire contacted the Kennebec Sheriff's Office for more information, but they declined to provide any comment or information that was not included in the initial press release.

This building was purchased in January 2020 by William Chen, 53, of California, who shortly thereafter granted power of attorney to Bin Chen, 67, of Flushing, New York.

The January 2020 purchase date makes this location one of the oldest illegal marijuana grow operations raided in the entire state.

Although police raided 18 Sheldon Street, the press release made no mention of any raid at 22 Sheldon Street, which is also owned by Chen and is directly adjacent to the raided property and shares a driveway with it.

The Maine Wire, however, went to the scene and found evidence that 22 Sheldon had also been raided, including a garage door left open, but it remains unclear why this part of the raid was not mentioned by the sheriff's department.

In both raids, the Kennebec Sheriff's Department was assisted by the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

The press release did not mention any assistance from local police departments, either in Manchester or Farmingdale.

It does not appear that the Maine State Police assisted in this effort.