A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for helping to run a large-scale marijuana growing operation that used his family’s plumbing business as a front.

Federal prosecutors say 40-year-old Thomas Laverty, of Clinton, was also sentenced Tuesday to eight years of probation and ordered to pay $3,100 in restitution.

He was convicted in January 2020 after a five-day trial of conspiracy to launder money, cultivating marijuana and possessing marijuana with intent to distribute.

Prosecutors say Laverty and his parents used the plumbing business, Millbury-based Chuck Laverty & Son Inc., as a front for a large-scale, commercial marijuana cultivation and distribution operation.

Mikayla Bell of New England Treatment Access answers some common questions about buying marijuana from recreational and medical dispensaries in Massachusetts, also giving helpful tips for new users.