With a little paperwork and scant oversight, investigators say illegal grow houses tied to Chinese organized crime are increasingly shifting to the medical market, avoiding oversight in the process.
somerset county maine
Posted inMaine, News
Somerset County Sheriff’s Office considers AI-powered cameras to generate police reports
New artificial intelligence technology may help deputies write reports quicker, leaving them with more time for other police work and helping to keep them from leaving for other agencies, the sheriff and other proponents of the cameras say.
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Posted inCops & Courts, Maine, News
Map: Where police raided residential cannabis grow operations in Maine
Approximate locations of many of the cannabis grow operations in residential locations.
Posted inCops & Courts, Maine, News
Workers at Maine’s illegal cannabis grow sites report signs of human trafficking
Federal prosecutors say they have found no evidence of exploitation at the clandestine marijuana grow houses. But some local law enforcement, anti-trafficking advocates and several grow house workers say otherwise.
Posted inBusiness, Maine, News
New Balance to close Norridgewock factory, move operations into expanded Skowhegan facility
The transition to the consolidated manufacturing facility, to be called ‘Central Maine,’ will begin this fall. All jobs at the Norridgewock site will be transferred to Skowhegan, the company said Tuesday.
Posted inMaine, News
Kennebec County Courthouse damaged in powerful storm
Tuesday’s storm downed trees and power lines and severely damaged the roof on the historic Kennebec County Courthouse as remnants of Hurricane Beryl move through New England.
Posted inCops & Courts, Maine, News
Illegal marijuana grows tied to China are funding fentanyl that’s ‘killing our citizens,’ Somerset County sheriff says
Sheriff Dale Lancaster told the county’s Board of Commissioners that his office has made investigating illegal marijuana growing operations a priority because ‘those profits are used to buy the chemicals to send to the cartel to make fentanyl.’
Posted inCops & Courts, Maine, News
Federal lawsuit alleges wrongful death of Somerset County Jail inmate who died from drug exposure
The lawsuit, filed four days before a similar complaint regarding a jail inmate who died by suicide, alleges that Mitchell Watson of Dexter was exposed to lethal drugs inside the Madison jail and was not given proper medical attention.
Posted inCops & Courts, Maine
Bust at illegal marijuana grow site near St. Albans day care turns up hundreds of plants, police say
The property marks the 18th illegal marijuana grow busted in Somerset County this year, police said.
Posted inCops & Courts, Maine, News
Court documents provide deeper look inside Maine’s clandestine cannabis grows
Laborers living out of suitcases, $10,000 electricity bills and elaborate automatic growing systems are among what officials found inside several of the residences, according to recently filed federal documents.