Officers say they raided an unlawful marijuana rising operation and arrested a 41-year-old California man Tuesday at a residence on Cooley Highway in Concord in Somerset County. Somerset County Sheriff’s Workplace photograph
HARMONY — A California man was arrested and hundreds of marijuana crops had been confiscated Tuesday after officers raided one other unlicensed rising operation in rural Maine.
Dongming Liao Somerset County Jail photograph
The bust occurred at about 10 a.m. at a residence on Cooley Highway in Concord, the place officers found about 3,400 hashish crops rising in a indifferent storage, in accordance with Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster.
The operation was completely different from the others which have been raided throughout the county, Lancaster mentioned, as a result of the rising operation was confined to the indifferent storage, slightly than contained in the residence.
Officers mentioned they discovered intensive lighting and heating methods, fertilizers and different gear used to domesticate hashish on the website.
“These investigations are sophisticated, they usually have been months in growth,” Lancaster mentioned. “There seems to be a sample of operations at every certainly one of these areas.”
Dongming Liao, 41, was arrested on the scene and charged with unlawful cultivation of marijuana. Lancaster mentioned it was unclear if Liao is a authorized resident of the US.
Officers mentioned additionally they confiscated a 2017 Ford Transit van, $1,882 in suspected drug proceeds and “unlawful drug-related documentation” on the residence.
Lancaster declined to say if the operation was immediately linked to others which have been raided in current months, as an alternative saying it was half of a bigger effort to stamp out the cultivation websites.
Greater than two dozen related websites have been uncovered in Somerset and Kennebec counties since the primary bust in January, with officers suspecting there may very well be as many as 400 extra throughout Maine.
Lancaster mentioned officers had been monitoring exercise for months on the residence in Concord as a part of a broader investigation into dozens of suspected unlawful marijuana rising operations in rural areas of central Maine.
The search warrant was carried out by a staff that included Somerset County Sheriff’s Workplace detectives and deputies, the Waterville Police Division, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety, U.S. Customs and Border Safety and investigators from the Maine Workplace of Hashish Coverage.
Liao is being held on the Somerset County Jail in Madison. His bail has been set at $5,000 money.
His preliminary courtroom look is scheduled for July 3.
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