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The U.S. Attorney’s office in Maine has filed notices in federal court to seize 12 properties related to the raid on a well-known marijuana distributor in the Farmington area last week, alleging they facilitated drug trafficking.
The complaints, dated July 23 and obtained from the Franklin County Registry of Deeds, came two days after federal and state law enforcement officials raided Narrow Gauge Distributors, a marijuana company in Farmington owned by Lucas Sirois of Rangeley.
The civil forfeiture actions list properties possibly owned by Sirois or family members, Spruce Valley LLC and Front Street Investments. Six of the properties are in Farmington, two in Rangeley, two in Industry, one in Avon and one in Carrabassett Valley.
No charges or arrests have been made in the case. The exact nature of the raid, which involved the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Agency, has not been disclosed.
Among the properties named in the complaints include 374 High St. and 407 Wilton Road in Farmington, which officials raided. The first property is the site of Narrow Gauge Distributors, which is “the largest cannabis distribution company in Maine,” according to its website. The latter is The Homegrown Connection, a garden store that has long been owned by Sirois.
The complaints allege that the property and or its proceeds can be forfeited because it “facilitated drug trafficking in violation of the Controlled Substances Act.” That act allows any real or personal property involved in a money laundering transaction to be forfeited, the complaint said.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Portland and Sirois’ lawyer, Toby Dilworth, would not comment on an ongoing investigation. FBI spokesperson Kirsten Setera said there is no update on the situation.
The warrants still have not been made public. However, multiple warrants by both agencies likely were involved, according to Bruce Merrill, a former federal prosecutor and lawyer in Portland who is not directly involved in the case. He said this is the first in a long series of steps the government must take to seize the properties.
Farmington selectmen last August approved two of Sirois’ requests for adult-use marijuana businesses, Narrow Gauge Botanicals LLC on Wilton Road and Lakemont LLC on High Street. Those businesses have conditional state approval as a store and as a cultivation and manufacturing facility, respectively.
Sirois advocated for legalization of marijuana and unsuccessfully applied for three dispensary licenses at the outset of the medical program in 2010. His biography on the website of cannabis tissue and genomics company CG Bio, of which he is a board member, calls him “a strong and vocal advocate for public policy.”
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