PARIS – A Porter man pleaded guilty Thursday in Oxford County Superior Court to a charge of marijuana cultivation and agreed to a second count ordering the criminal forfeiture of 92 firearms.
Michael Welch, 51, of 1 Winter St. received a two-year suspended sentence and three years probation, and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. As a condition of his probation, he will be under house arrest, able only to leave to take his wife to work in New Hampshire.
The 92 firearms, most of them Winchester rifles and shotguns, were found in wall safes at Welch’s home during a raid last October by agents of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Also found was just over 15 pounds of marijuana, according to an affidavit by MDEA Special Agent Tony Milligan, who was assisted in the raid by Maine State Police and the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department.
Welch was indicted in January on charges of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs, but the charge was lowered to marijuana cultivation as a result of the plea arrangement.
Milligan said the bags of marijuana were found near the guns, and in some cases had been stashed in the gun safes. All the guns were found in one room, and also included an assortment of shotguns, pistols and older collectible guns.
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