The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team raided an illegal grow operation in Carmel at about 8 a.m. on 29 June 2023, seizing more than 3,400 marijuana plants and 111 pounds of processed marijuana.[1] Deputies searched a residence on Route 2, and the sheriff’s office said the unlicensed operation’s methods and process were dangerous to those involved and the surrounding area.[1]
The sheriff’s office said the operation was organised by people who live in Maine while several people from outside Maine were arrested, without immediately naming them.[1] Later reports named four men, residents of New York and Massachusetts, and quoted a sheriff’s spokesperson saying the operation was not licensed, permitted or following safety protocols.[2] The sheriff’s office said the large unlicensed operation undermines licensed medical and recreational growers in the state.[1] The Town of Carmel, which has not opted in to allow commercial cultivation, welcomed the enforcement of its local rules.[2]
