A Rangeley man convicted by a federal jury last month for running an illegal cannabis operation in Franklin County is asking a judge to throw out the conviction or give him a new trial.
Lucas Sirois, 45, was found guilty Nov. 18 on felony charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, as well as six other charges.
Sirois faces between 10 years and up to life in prison on the two felony charges. A conviction on either of them carries a maximum $10 million in fines or both prison time and a fine.
He was also found guilty of felony bank fraud and two charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and impede and impair the Internal Revenue Services, and tax evasion. The penalty for each of those charges range from not more than five years in prison to a maximum 30 years and fines of $100,000 to $250,000, or both imprisonment and fines.
The jury also found his father, Robert Sirois, 71, of Farmington guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
The motion for acquittal, which was denied during the trial on Nov. 17, claims the Office of the U.S. Attorney failed to present legally sufficient evidence to prove the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
The defense claims that the material confiscated from a former shoe shop in Farmington and a former toy factory in Avon was legally hemp and not marijuana, or “marihuana” as the document states.
It argues that government testing measured a total THC value instead of THC concentration required by statute.
Lucas Sirois’ attorneys argue that because the government tested for the wrong chemical metric, they failed to legally prove that the seized material was marijuana and not lawful hemp.
The case began in July 2020 when law and drug enforcement members converged on 374 High St. in Farmington at a former shoe factory.
Charges against 13 defendants, including Lucas Sirois and his father, were brought in 2021. Two co-defendants had their cases dismissed, one pleaded guilty to tampering with documents, and 11 including the Siroises are waiting sentencing.
Lucas Sirois and his co-conspirators — who all pleaded guilty aside from the two who had their cases dismissed — were accused of realizing in excess of $13 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 2021 release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
