Thirteen people, including four former law enforcement officers, a prosecutor and a former selectman, have been charged in a conspiracy to use medical marijuana grow houses in western Maine to illegally sell $13 million of the drug in and out of Maine.
Court documents in the case were made public Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor after one of the defendants pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess and distribute more than a ton of marijuana and 1,000 marijuana plants.
The documents detail a far-reaching scheme in which the head of the conspiracy, 41-year-old Lucas Sirois of Farmington, allegedly gave cops ownership interests in his company and brand new “company” cars in exchange for confidential information that he used to benefit his business. He also learned about the federal investigation into his illegal business dealings through the officers’ networks, according to the documents.
A former Rangeley selectman is also implicated, accused of accepting cash payments from Sirois in exchange for advocating for his agenda, including a vote to advance a marijuana ordinance Sirois had drafted to a town referendum.
The defendant who pleaded guilty is Randal Cousineau, 69, of Farmington, who admitted that he participated in a conspiracy to illegally cultivate and sell marijuana from 2016 to July 2020. Cousineau was the primary financier and 50 percent partner in an illegal marijuana cultivation facility in Farmington, according to court documents. He also held an interest in an illegal marijuana distribution company.
Members of the conspiracy cultivated and sold marijuana in violation of Maine’s medical marijuana laws, selling bulk marijuana to people who were not registered as caregivers, and for distribution outside of Maine. Cousineau realized hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit from these illegal sales, according to court documents.
A sentencing date has not been set. His plea agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office calls for him to forfeit real estate and more than $500,000 in illegal profits.
He faces up to life in prison but he waived his right to appeal to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals if his sentence is less than five years and three months.
Sirois is accused of heading up the conspiracy. He allegedly structured his operations so that it looked like he complied with Maine’s medical marijuana rules while he regularly sold bulk marijuana on the illicit market, including more than $1 million worth of marijuana for out-of-state distribution between 2018 and 2019 through codefendant Brandon Dagnese, 27, of Scarborough. A convicted felon, Dagnese was ineligible to hold a caregiver card in Maine, according to the complaint.
Sirois also is accused of using family and friends to conceal his illegal activities and maximize his profits. His estranged wife, Alisa Sirois, 43, of Kingfield; his father Robert Sirois, 68, of Farmington; Ryan Nezol, 38, of Farmington, and others allegedly laundered drug proceeds through a complex corporate structure. Kenneth Allen, 48, of Farmington, a tax preparer, is charged with filing false income tax returns to hide hundreds of thousands of dollars in income, resulting in tax loss of more than $400,000.
Sirois defrauded Maine taxpayers by using his drug money to corrupt members of local law enforcement and town government, according to the…
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