FARMINGTON — A state drug agency spokesman said early Friday that the majority of 1,029 pot plants seized Tuesday in northern Franklin County were stolen either late Tuesday or early Wednesday from a locked evidence building in Farmington.

Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said Friday the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency would now review its policy on where plants seized as evidence are taken and stored.

Farmington police assisted by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency are investigating the theft.

Drug agents and other law enforcement worked all day Tuesday eradicating marijuana plants and searching buildings in Phillips and Township 6 North of Weld, along with an area that encompassed about 100 acres, MDEA Supervisor Gerry Baril said Wednesday.

Drug agents also arrested Tad T. Smith, 35, and his father, Joseph Smith, 64, both of Phillips, on Tuesday on one count each of felony cultivating marijuana.

The marijuana was seized during the execution of three different search warrants for various properties in Phillips and Township 6.

Both men were released from jail the same day on $500 cash bail.

The pot plants were taken to Farmington to be secured in an evidence building that the Farmington Police Department uses on Route 2. The building is not at the same location as the department offices, which are at town’s municipal building, also off Route 2.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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