PORTLAND — A Turner man whose illegal marijuana operation yielded a Ferrari and other riches was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison.
In a letter to the U.S. District Court judge, the mother of Andrew Waite, 32, wrote that her son had been a good boy until he became wealthy from his illicit drug proceeds. He turned “cocky, a know-it-all and materialistic,” Boston defense attorney Thomas Butters quoted from the letter.
But, after Waite’s arrest and incarceration, he underwent a “remarkable” transformation,” through corrections programs, to become a good person again, Butters read.
Waite told Judge George Z. Singal he regretted the “irresponsible and destructive nature” of his behavior before his arrest. He said he regretted he had involved his siblings in his criminal activities and his time behind bars has changed his way of thinking.
“This has been a sobering period of introspection,” he said.
“It’s almost like you were watching ‘Miami Vice’ and taking it seriously,” the judge said, “living the high life.”
Singal said Waite had been “a very knowledgeable and efficient drug dealer” who fled from authorities after he was busted and solicited help from family members and continued to sell drugs until his eventual capture in North Carolina.
“I think what you did here was calculated,” Singal told Waite, who has a high school education.
Waited pleaded guilty last year to four charges stemming from the raid. The judge sentenced him to six years in prison for possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Singal imposed lesser sentences for possession of an unregistered firearm (a silencer,) manufacturing 100 or more marijuana plants and transferring property subject to seizure, all of which will be served at the same time Waite is serving his longer sentence.
Waite was charged after federal agents raided his home at 75 Nezinscot Drive, Turner, on Feb. 27, 2018, the same day they fanned out across the Lewiston and Auburn area, executing more than a dozen search warrants in connection with targeting marijuana growing operations that operated under the guise of Maine’s medical marijuana provider program.
Agents searched two warehouses under Waite’s control at 11 and 33 Conant Road in Turner. In the warehouses, agents seized a total of more than 500 pounds of harvested marijuana, 104 sheets of marijuana concentrate and more than 350 marijuana plants, according court papers.
In his home, drug agents seized about 100 pounds of marijuana, roughly $216,000 in cash, a 2010 Ferrari, firearms, ammunition and a silencer with no markings or serial number. Ownership of his $300,000 home was eventually forfeited to the federal government.
After Waite was charged, he fled his Turner home and his two brothers helped him escape capture by federal agents.
Aaron Waite, 28, formerly of Auburn, rented a hotel room for Andrew Waite in Miami, Florida, while the elder Waite was on the lam. The two met secretly at that hotel and stayed there together, according to court papers. Agents recovered text messages between the brothers and checked hotel records that confirmed the room rental, according to court papers.
Andrew Waite was later tracked to North Carolina where someone delivered a 2016 Mercedes-Benz to him that he had co-registered with his brother Joshua Waite, 37, of Turner. In July, Joshua Waite changed the car registration, removing Andrew Waite’s name in an effort to help him avoid detection by law enforcement if stopped for a traffic infraction, according to court papers.
Aaron and Joshua Waite were charged with harboring a fugitive and both agreed to plead guilty after waiving their rights to have a grand jury review the cases for probable cause.
On April 18, 2018, Andrew Waite had signed over to brother Joshua Waite the deed to his Turner home, which was subject to forfeiture as a property facilitating an offense.
Aaron and Joshua Waite were each sentenced in January to two years probation and a $4,000 fine for harboring a fugitive.
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