WILTON – Police found 490 marijuana plants – with a street value of over $900,000 – when they searched a Butterfield Road home Friday morning, according to a Wilton Police Department news release.
Officers from the Wilton Police Department, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, the Maine State Police and the state Drug Enforcement Agency had been investigating Bobby Bailey, 42, and Timothy Lemaire, 44, for two months before executing a search warrant at their East Dixfield home, the press release said.
According to the release, police found the 490 plants and “an elaborate system of lights and heating equipment allowing multiple states of growth,” in the house’s entryway and unattached garage.
A mature plant can have a street value of over $2,000, the release said, which would bring the value of the cache to nearly one million dollars.
Three men were present in the Butterfield Road residence when police arrived – Bobby Bailey, Lemaire, and 47 year-old Michael Bailey of Lewiston. All three were arrested and transported to the Franklin County Sheriff’s department, according to the release.
Bobby Bailey, 129 Butterfield Road, was arrested on charges of drug trafficking, aggravated cultivation, possession of a firearm by a felon, and violation of conditions of bail. Lemaire, last known to be residing in Wilton, was arrested on charges of aggravated cultivation and trafficking. Michael Bailey of Blake Street, Lewiston, was arrested on an outstanding Androscoggin County warrant for failing to pay a fine for operating under the influence.
According to the Wilton Police Department press release, Friday’s bust was “very successful,” and “should have an impact on the availability of marijuana in this area.”
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