NORWAY – One of four people arrested early this week on charges of growing marijuana in four Main Street apartments said he likes to raise the illegal weed but doesn’t sell it or smoke it, according to police.

Stanley E. Hinkley, 47, said he lets the pot plants die, officer Dana Wessling wrote in his report.

Twenty-four plants, drug paraphernalia including scales, straws with white powder residue on them and a fluorescent light were seized in Hinkley’s apartment by agent Zane Loper of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Hinkley was arrested Sunday on charges of aggravated cultivation of marijuana because the apartment building at 206 Main St. is near the Guy E. Rowe Elementary School.

Also charged were Douglas McArthur Gilpatrick, 26, and his girlfriend Andrea Jean Ayer, 23, both of 206 Main St., and Hinkley’s former girlfriend, Deniece Marie Cannon, 40, of 4 Hazen St., Wessling said.

According to the police report:

• Hinkley said Cannon helped him tend his plants. He admitted punching Cannon’s new boyfriend, who was not identified, and smashing the windshield of his vehicle with a wrench. Police responded to the apartment building originally to investigate that alleged assault. Hinkley also was charged with assault and criminal mischief.

• Gilpatrick admitted he had been growing 17 plants in his apartment.; and

• Ayer said she knew about the plants growing in her and Gilpatrick’s bedroom.

The arrests resulted from Wessling’s response to the assault report on Sunday. The victim said he suffered a broken nose at the hand of Hinkley, who broke the windshield of his vehicle, the report stated.

Cannon said she recently broke up with Hinkley and witnessed the assault, Wessling said.

When the officer went to Hinkley’s apartment, he said he saw Gilpatrick in the hall carrying a marijuana plant in a five-gallon bucket and other marijuana plants in similar containers in Hinkley’s apartment.

Police Chief Robert Federico said the plants ranged in size from seedlings to 2 feet tall.

According to the police report, Gilpatrick said Hinkley asked him to move the marijuana plants out of a vacant apartment, and Hinkley said the largest plants were being kept in another vacant apartment.

Federico said Hinkley had keys to the apartments because he was doing work for the building manager. After he lost the keys, Gilpatrick entered one of the vacant apartments through an unlocked window to get Hinkley’s plants. Gilpatrick was charged Monday with burglary, Wessling said.

Ayer was also arrested Monday, along with Cannon.

“We’ve had contact with all the people who were involved at one time or another,” Federico said. “They’ve all lived here for some time.”

However, he said none had been arrested recently and none had prior drug convictions.

According to Norway assessor Jodi Keniston, the building has nine apartments and is owned by Western Highlands of Portland, which owns other multifamily buildings in town.

Ayer was released on $1,500 unsecured bail on Monday. Hinkley, Cannon and Gilpatrick were released on personal recognizance after an initial appearance in South Paris District Court.