PORTLAND — A man charged with a federal felony in a Mexico marijuana grow operation was released Friday to a Massachusetts location.

Xiandu Zhang, 68, of North Quincy, Massachusetts, had been living in Mexico where he and another Chinese national were allegedly maintaining a pot farm in a three-bay garage formerly used by Western Maine Transportation Services.

Zhang and Guo Hong Lei, 55, of Brooklyn, New York, were arrested last month and charged with maintaining a drug-involved premises, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.

Zhang appeared in U.S. District Court handcuffed and in a jail suit for a detention hearing.

He was aided by an interpreter who spoke to him in Cantonese.

Magistrate Judge Karen Frink Wolf told Zhang he would be released Friday on a $10,000 unsecured bond, but would be supervised by a probation officer pending trial.

Conditions of his release include seeking work within Massachusetts, surrendering his passport, traveling out of Massachusetts only to Maine for legal reasons, no contact with any witnesses or his co-defendant and no possession of narcotic drugs or controlled substances, including marijuana.

On June 26, Lei was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond with conditions that included surrendering his passport and having no contact with Zhang or anyone else who may be a victim, witness or co-defendant in the case.

Lei also will be supervised by U.S Probation and Pretrial Services pending his trial.

At the time of their arrests, the two men were living in a home at 56 Pine St. where they were growing hundreds of marijuana plants in the unattached garage whose windows were blackened, according to an affidavit written by a task force officer at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The garage is across the street from a day care business and less than 1,000 feet from a middle school, according to the DEA officer.

A more than sevenfold increase in electrical use coupled with the installation of a ventilation system on the second floor were signs that the garage had been transformed into a marijuana growing operation, the DEA officer wrote.

The Maine Office of Cannabis Policy had confirmed that no license had been issued for that address.

Drug agents executed a search warrant and discovered nearly 500 marijuana plants on the property, including 302 flowering marijuana plants found in the bottom floor of the garage, comprising 243 standing plants and 59 more plants that had been cut and harvested, according to the DEA officer.

Zhang told agents he generally produced 20-30 pounds of marijuana each month, which buyers based in New York would come pick up from him, the officer wrote.