BANGOR — Two ex-Franklin County sheriff’s deputies pleaded guilty Thursday in a federal court to conspiracy conspiracy to defraud and deprive residents of Franklin County of their right to the defendants’ honest and faithful services through bribery, according to court documents.
Derrick Doucette of Jay and Brad Scovil of Rangeley entered their pleas separately to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud in U.S. District Court.
They are two of 11 defendants indicted in November 2021 by the U.S. Attorney in the case.
Two other federal charges were dismissed in the plea agreement, conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute a scheduled substance, and bank fraud.
The agreement calls for the men not to spend more than 57 months in prison. A sentencing date has not been set as of Thursday. If the court imposes a longer sentence than 57 months, Doucette and Scovil can withdraw their guilty pleas, according to the agreement.
According to the prosecution, Scovil and Doucette conspired from at least June 2019 to July 21, 2020, with each other and with the owner/operator of multiple industrial marijuana cultivation facilities in Farmington.
“While Scovil and Doucette were still employed as Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies, they provided confidential law enforcement information to a (co-conspirator) in exchange for the promise of partial ownership in Narrow Gauge Distributors (in Farmington), a Maine limited liability corporation that cultivated and distributed marijuana, as well as annual salaries, the use of company cars, and other benefits,” according to the prosecution.
For example, on Sept, 23, 2019, Scovil conducted a query through the National Crime Information Center using information associated with a co-conspirator as part of a broader effort to determine when the co-conspirator was under investigation by law enforcement.
Also, as a part of this effort, Scovil accessed police reports and ran his own identifiers through the National Crime Information Center, all while keeping the co-conspirator abreast of any information that he and Doucette learned, according to the court document.
“In order to conduct NCIS queries in furtherance of the scheme, Scovil and Doucette utilized law enforcement databases in Farmington, Maine, that interacted through interstate electronic wire communications with the NCIS system housed in West Virginia,” according to prosecutors.
During this time both men were aware that accessing the NCIC records for improper purpose, or using, disseminating, 0r disseminating NCIC information for a purpose other than legitimate law enforcement functions, could subject them to administrative or criminal penalties, and were also aware that accessing National Crime Information Center records in this manner would constitute an action in violation of their official duties.
“Nevertheless, they did so in order to secure a business partnership with (co-conspirator) and to obtain value from (the co-conspirator) and Narrow Gauge Distributors,” according to prosecutors.
Scovil and Doucette ended their law enforcement employment in 2019 and therefore neither has an active certification with the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, academy Director Jack Peck Jr. wrote in an email. “Now that there is a conviction we can proceed with the process to permanently revoke their certification.”
Law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI, raided Narrow Gauge Distributors in July 2020 on High Street in Farmington. Boxes of information and marijuana plants were seized there while other places were medical marijuana was grown and sold around the area were also raided and evidence collected.
Maine State Police officers load marijuana plants July 21, 2020, into a shipping container on a truck behind Narrow Gauge Distributors in Farmington. Ex-Franklin County sheriff’s deputies Derrick Doucette of Jay and Brad Scovil of Rangeley pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to conspiracy and fraud in the illegal medical marijuana and money laundering scheme. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal file
As a result of the guilty pleas, in a preliminary order of forfeiture the defendants will forfeit to the United States any property, real or personal, which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to the offense.
The property to be forfeited includes, but is not limited to $127,663.70 held in a Franklin-Somerset Federal Credit Union account in the name of Narrow Gauge Distributors. Scovil also must forfeit $25,277.99 in a Evergreen Credit Union account. Doucette also must forfeit $46,810.39 held in an account at Maine Family Federal Credit Union.
Prosecutors have said Lucas Sirois of Rangeley was the leader of the operation. He and co-conspirators are accused of realizing in excess of $13.1 million over six years through the illicit sale of marijuana. Sirois is said to have structured operations to appear as though they complied with Maine’s medical marijuana regime while he regularly sold bulk marijuana on the illicit market, including $1 million worth of marijuana for out-of-state distribution between 2018 and 2019, according to the U.S. Attorney’s release in 2021.
The nine other defendants indicted in the case have pleaded not guilty to various federal charges in the Bangor court.
In August 2022, defendant Kayla Alves, a former Franklin County assistant district attorney who was not indicted, was sentenced to two years of probation and a $2,000 fine for her role in the illegal marijuana operation.
Alves pleaded guilty to tampering with documents in March 2022. Police said she deleted a string of text messages she had with Scovil, who allegedly had a stake in that marijuana business.
Other co-defendants in the case are Sirois’ estranged wife, Alisa Sirois of Kingfield; his father, Robert Sirois of Farmington; former Rangeley Selectman David Burgess of Rangeley; Brandon Dagnese of Scarborough; and Ryan Nezol of Farmington. Their cases have not been resolved.
Lucas Sirois also previously pleaded not guilty on behalf of three corporations he co-owns.
Randal Cousineau of Farmington pleaded guilty in 2021 to conspiring to possess and distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana and 1,000 marijuana plants. He faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison and up to a $10 million fine, according to court records.
According to federal officials, Cousineau was the primary financier and half-interest partner with a co-conspirator in an illegal marijuana cultivation and distribution scheme, based in Farmington. The operation sold marijuana in violation of Maine’s medical marijuana laws, sold bulk marijuana illegally to people who were not registered as caregivers and distributed outside of the state, federal officials previously said.
Doucette’s and Scovil’s attorneys were not available for comment Thursday. Neither were Scovil and Doucette.
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