A Massachusetts man was found guilty Tuesday after a two-day jury trial of willfully failing to pay child support in Maine for nearly a decade and a marijuana-related charge.

Jay Dandreo, 52, of Lynn, Massachusetts, was convicted in in U.S. District Court in Portland. He is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Nancy Torresen on Nov. 12 and faces a maximum of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the child support charge and up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the drug charge, possession with the intent to manufacture or distribute marijuana.

Dandreo intentionally failed to pay any of about $70,000 in child support for his four minor children from the time he was ordered to do so by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services between May 2004 and November 2013, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In August 2012, investigators from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency executed a search warrant at property in Limerick that is owned by Dandreo’s father, seizing several marijuana plants growing on the property, as well as drug distribution paraphernalia and several firearms, according to court records.

At the time of the raid at 304 Sawyer Mountain Rd. in Limerick, police also seized an unexpired Maine identification card for Dandreo and a book called “Marijuana Grower’s Guide,” leading to the drug charge against Dandreo. While agents were still on the property, an unidentified person fled into the woods and escaped, court records state.

Dandreo was indicted on the charges by a federal grand jury on Jan. 28.


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