Police seize more than 1,800 marijuana plants during Madison raid

Police seized more than 1,800 marijuana plants on Tuesday while raiding an illegal grow house in Madison.

Police descended on the Horsetail Hill Road home about 9:30 a.m., and during the raid, they seized about 1,854 plants, 10 pounds of processed marijuana and other drug material, according to the Waterville Morning Sentinel .

No arrests were made because no one was home at the time, the Sentinel reported.

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office said it found a major outbreak of black mold inside the home, which is common because of the humidity inside, according to the newspaper. It was the worst the sheriff’s office has seen in recent months.

Most of the home had been repurposed for growing marijuana, but in the one room where police found a bed, the roof had caved in because of the humidity and mold.

It’s the latest large-scale illegal marijuana operation uncovered in Maine in recent months.

Since the beginning of the new year, police have been active in busting these large operations, which have been found all over rural Maine, from Guilford and Sangerville in Piscataquis County, to Corinna , Eddington and Passadumkeag in Penobscot County, to Turner in Androscoggin County, to Cornville , Harmony , Madison , Mercer , Norridgewock , Ripley and Skowhegan in Somerset County, to Jay in Franklin County, to Belgrade , China and Chelsea in Kennebec County, to Jefferson and Whitefield in Lincoln County, to Belmont in Waldo County.

These operations received greater scrutiny after the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office found an illegal marijuana grow house in Carmel , where police seized 3,400 plants and 111 pounds of processed marijuana in late June. As 2023 dragged on, police uncovered other large illegal marijuana operations in Dexter , Wilton , Machias and other communities.

A leaked federal government memo , first obtained by the conservative Daily Caller and published in August, estimates Maine has 270 large-scale illegal marijuana grows connected to organized crime groups in China. The memo’s authors note that the money may be used to further crime in the U.S. or be sent back to China. These operations generate an estimated $4.37 billion in revenue.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, which will reportedly propose reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III substance, is investigating criminal syndicates running illegal grows in at least 20 states . That revelation from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland came in response to questioning by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins during an Appropriations Committee hearing in mid-April.

Maine’s congressional delegation has twice pressed the U.S. Justice Department to crack down on these illegal marijuana operations, most recently on Jan. 25, 2024 .

“We applaud Maine law enforcement for their continued efforts to investigate and shutdown these illegal operations, and we encourage the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal partners to provide additional support for these efforts. These illegal growing operations are detrimental to Maine businesses that comply with State laws, and we urge the DOJ to shut them down,” Collins, U.S. Sen. Angus King and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden said in their January letter to the attorney general.

It’s unclear whether this Madison operation is connected to other illegal marijuana grows in Maine or to the crime network described in the federal memo.