A federal judge on Monday denied a defense motion to acquit Lucas Sirois and his father, Robert Sirois, on charges related to what prosecutors say was a multi-million-dollar illegal marijuana operation that ended in high-profile raids in July 2020, including at Narrow Gauge Distributors in Farmington.
The denial came on the fourth day of an expected six-day trial of Lucas Sirois, 45, of Rangeley and his father, Robert Sirois, 71, of Farmington. The two pleaded not guilty to a 2021 indictment and not guilty to a superseding indictment in September.
Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys concluded their cases Monday morning, the same day the judge denied the defense motion for acquittal that defense attorneys filed Sunday.
Jurors will return Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. to the U.S. District Court in Bangor to hear closing statements.
Lucas Sirois and some alledged co-conspirators were accused of realizing in excess of $13 million over six years through the illicit sale of marijuana.
Lucas Sirois is accused of having structured operations to appear as though they complied with Maine’s medical marijuana law, while regularly selling bulk marijuana on the illegal market, including $1 million worth of marijuana for out-of-state distribution between 2018 and 2019, according to the U.S. Attorney’s statement in 2021.
During the six-day trial, defense attorneys have argued that what was cultivated and distributed in bulk was legal hemp and not illegal marijuana. State prosecutors have disagreed.
The U.S. Department of Justice raided several buildings July 21, 2020, that were allegedly related to the marijuana operations, several of them in Farmington. Charges were filed against the defendants in 2021. Eleven of 13 defendants in the case were indicted. The court dismissed criminal charges against two defendants.
On Sunday, the Siroises’ attorneys filed the motion in federal court asking the court to acquit the two men and partners in the ventures they had. The motion argued that neither Lucas Sirois nor his father planted, selected, tended or had control over the growing operation central to the charges.
The more than 1,000 plants seized at a 105 Avon Road facility were under another Franklin County couple’s control, the motion argued, and therefore should be excluded from all counts or any drug quantity thresholds.
The motion also stated the plants did not contain enough of the active ingredient THC to be illegal, that it was hemp, not marijuana, and claimed the government failed to test enough samples.
However, according to a previous motion by federal prosecutors filed with the court, a precise measure of the exact THC concentration of cannabis is not legally required to prove it is marijuana.
A couple of co-defendants in the case testified during the trial that marijuana was being grown and not hemp, and one testified that he severed ties with Lucas Sirois after he believed the medical marijuana operation had become illegal, according to news reports.
Lucas Sirois’s bail was revoked earlier this month after a federal judge found probable cause that he violated his bail conditions on Oct. 31 when he allegedly retrieved two firearms and ammunition from a Franklin County residence he owns.
