BATH, Maine — Two Bath residents face felony charges of aggravated marijuana cultivation after Maine Drug Enforcement Agents on Thursday seized more than 100 marijuana plants, guns and other drugs and paraphernalia from their home on Cottage Street.
April Smeal, 36, and 39-year-old Warner Hinkley, both of 9 Cottage St., were charged with the Class B felonies after the MDEA, working with the Bath Police Department and Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office, executed a search warrant at their home at approximately 11 a.m. Thursday, Bath Police Chief Michael Field said today.
Officers seized more than 100 marijuana plants, seven miscellaneous rifles, hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana and marijuana seeds, and assorted drug paraphernalia, Field said.
Hinkley was not home at the time the warrant was executed, but turned himself in to police later on Thursday, Bath Police Detective Dave Beauregard said today.
The charges are considered aggravated because the Cottage Street is within 1,000 of Hyde School, a drug-free safe zone.
Smeal and Hinkley were released on unsecured bail from the Bath police station, with Smeal’s bail set at $20,000 and Hinkley’s at $25,000.
If convicted of the Class B felony, each faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
Beauregard said he does not expect any additional charges to result from the warrant, which was based on an anonymous tip to police.
He urged residents to call police any time they have even “bits and pieces” of information about suspected drug activity.
“People think we know everything, and we don’t,” Beauregard said. “For a citizen in the neighborhood to call in anonymously and tell us bits and pieces — we can put them together and get enough for a search warrant.”
Hinkley and Smeal are scheduled to appear March 15 in West Bath District Court.
To see more from The Times Record, visit timesrecord.com.
Another story about DEA agents aggravating marijuana cultivation–another waste of the taxpayers money.
End the prohibition–LEGALIZE IT!
I agree. This is ridiculous and expensive. Imagine how much it’s going to cost us to prosecute and (public) defend these people, plus court time and expense, incarceration costs, wasted law enforcement time and money, destruction of good pot, lot tax revenue, loss of wages while these two sit in prison, cost of child welfare services to take care of their kids/families, loss of income tax, loss of human potential. All so that a couple of consenting adults don’t get their weed from these guys and have to buy it from the next dealer, who can now bump up his price since his competitor just got knocked out. Let’s stop allowing ourselves to be policed this way. This is nuts.
To report information about drug crimes,
call MDEA at 800-452-6457
Visit its website at http://www.maine.gov/dps/mdea
Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/maine.drug.enforcement.agency
If you don’t think marijuana is a problem maybe you should check and see what all these oxy punks started out on.
I am gonna say alcohol.
I’m gonna say milk. The “gateway drug” argument is circular and illogical. “Marijuana should be illegal because it leads to harder drugs. It leads to harder drugs because it’s illegal.” The only thing marijuana has in common with harder drugs is their illegality. To buy it, you have to enter the underground illegal drug economy. Take away the illegality and you take away the gateway argument.
Yet some people who don’t want low-income workers to have health insurance see no problem wasting taxpayer money on busts like this.
I always thought it was sugar. I’ve never met a drug addict who hadn’t tried that stuff.
I always thought it was soda or energy drinks. I’ve never met a drug addict who hadn’t first experienced the “high” of soda or energy drinks.
Have you seen that they want to put a warning on sugar? Don’t know if I saw that on Yahoo or CBS.
I am not a drug addict and I smoked it when I was a kid
When I was younger, I smoked pot and you know what started me smoking pot????….BEER. I always said no to pot when I was young and only after I had been drinking and someone asked me if I wanted to smoke a joint…I said yes. people say pot is a gateway drug, I say alcohol is far worse when it comes to being a gateway drug.
Marijuana is not a gateway drug, rather it is a gateway to the black market in general, where someone is more likely to be offered something like OxyContin. In this case, the problem is directly attributable to the way in which we attempt to regulate the use of marijuana, not the drug itself.
Milk, then beer, then bourbon, then MAYBE Cannabis. I’ve never done an Oxy in my life.
Your life isnt over yet.
If you’ve never tried Cannabis, then you don’t have a foot to stand on. If you have, then you must be a pill-head?
Stupidity?
Milk?
SAMHSA says 100% of drug addicts start out….on a liquid diet for several weeks. Every single one of them.
Mama’s don’t let your babies grow up to be addicts. Start feeding them beef steak from day 1.
You write “oxy punks” What type of bigoted term is that? Could you give the reason for this obvious hatred? Is this your enemy?
Oh no not psilocybin mushrooms?! Those things are dangerous.
“Research shows that the psychedelic experience is, in fact, long lasting: a new study published last week found that people who took magic mushrooms (psilocybin) had long-term personality changes, becoming more open, more curious, more intellectually engaged and more creative.”
I mean, seriously, people becoming more open, more curious, and more intellectually engaged? I can think of few things that would be more dangerous to the protectors of the status quo. No wonder alcohol is legal while psychedelics aren’t.
People also wander off and drown in lakes while high on mushrooms.
people get drunk and drown, beat their wives, crash their cars, drown in their own vomit more frequently….
Post proof or it didn’t happen.
You are correct with regard to some of the purported benefits of psilocybin consumption. However, guns and psychedelics don’t mix at all.
What does one have to do with the other? Guns don’t grow from cow poop, and they don’t shoot mushrooms.
Ummm….there were guns in their house too.
Ummm….that doesn’t explain what guns have to do with pot and ‘shrooms.
Just saying that guns and shrooms dont go together well is all.
Like alcohol and guns dont go together well……the possible bad reprocussions…..bad judgement calls, etc…..
But of course, if pot and shrooms were legalized, regulated, and taxed, the homeowners might not feel the need to arm themselves to the teeth to protect themselves from thugs and burglars. They could just call the police without fear of self-incrimination.
“Research shows that the psychedelic experience is, in fact, long lasting: a new study published last week found that people who took magic mushrooms (psilocybin) had long-term personality changes, becoming more open, more curious, more intellectually engaged and more creative.”
Roger, could you cite your source for this quote please?
How and where did 45,000 dollars come from for their unsecured bail? Seems crime does pay.
Unsecured bail? Probably form the GOP “Super PAC”!
Spoken like a real Liberal Democrat… Why don’t you say BUSH DID IT! Like you always do?
Bush was a coke head.
Another liberal heard from!
Hank’s a pot head. Tool!
unsecured bail is not paid up front. its a signed agreement to show up or be charged the amount as a fine so to speak if you dont.
thanks for the info..
L
E
G
A
L
I
Z
E
OBEY
THE
LAW
Clever Huh?
Everybody fall into line, now start goose stepping and sieg heiling!
Obeying unjust law has been antithetical to Americans since day 1. Don’t expect us to start after almost 240 years. If you like doing what you’re told why don’t you move to Canada?
“An unjust law, is no law at all.” -Saint Augustine
Legalize it, I agree, but Canada is more lax on pot than the US. There goes that idea.
The drug war is a total fraud. It is a welfare program for courts, cops and corrections. Lawyers would have to get honest work otherwise. 40 years running and no end in sight, endless war with more people in jail, more broken homes, more chaos. The war causes more harm than good. A harm reduction is needed. The balance sheet does not balance. This expenditure is insane.
Alcohol prohibition was ended with the help of the jury system. Jury members are the judge in a case, the judge becomes a moderator. The jury has the lawful right to judge the facts and the law. With alcohol prohibition the jury would give a verdict of not guilty because they believed the law was unjust and therefore nullified it’s power as invalid. It is called “jury nullification”. It is the true power of the people who live in a republic.
marijuana, mushrooms, and rifles oh my!
i was thinking the very same thing.
Hinkley is only 39 years old? Look at what drugs will do to you, He looks like he should be in his mid 70’s. Kids, take notice, drugs make you old before your time!
So drugs somehow change your genetic predisposition? How?
Evidently it can also make one quite obtuse.
I may be a triangle, but your a square.
I saw that too,Coud it be a misprint?There is no way that he is only 39…
lol, it mustve been the shrooms, cause I’m goin on 50 an I look about half his age. Sure as hell wer’nt the pot.
If you live in Connecticut and want to end marijuana prohibition in our state, please take a minute to visit http://www.ctprimaryproject.com.
Please pass this on to anyone you know in Connecticut!
Don’t worry guys they’re only gonna do a few months and pay a fine equal to my annual church donation, Then they’ll be right back out selling to you and your kids before you can say “Hey Man whatcha got to fix me up?”.
I think you live with the ‘shrooms, feeding of the stuff our fine government shovels to you.
You can think what you want But I bet I’m feeding better than you, are so stay on topic wise guy.
Yes, suckling from the Govs’ teat. “tough titty said the kitty, but the milk tastes sweet”
How about when you want to insult me show just a little more intelligence than a 3rd grader and with something that dignifys a a retort. So have a great day huh.
I’m sorry. I don’t want to insult anyone. I am a hard working, family man. I have 4 young daughters. I am pro equality, and mostly leaving each other be. A plant and a Fungi seem to me not worthy of an arguement, much less an offense. There are worse things out there.
Spoken like a true pious christian hypocrite.
Thanks, glad you noticed.
Just one of Anslinger’s Lies :-/
“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.” Harry J. Anslinger, testimony to Congress, 1937
More nonsense
http://www.drugwarrant.com/art…
I noticed that this article did not say how much usable mj was confiscated nor what weight of ‘shrooms was found. That they had 100 plants means nothing if most of them were seedlings. IMO this is a very biased article. Oh, and that school thing really does rub me the wrong way. It is OK to sell beer or liquor near a school or have your home cooler stocked with the stuff, but God forbid you should have something in your house that grows wild for the picking. Dumbass law.
Ok, all you people who think that MJ is a serious problem… Here’s the deal. You guys track the police blotters and the Emergency Room activity, statewide, from now until Monday morning after the Super Bowl bacchanal. The score, dear righteous ones, will demonstrate that alcohol is the true King of substance abuse and chief cause of mayhem. To hassle people for MJ is evidence of a police state–one that in no small measure, is supported by the alcoholic beverage industry.
100 Plants? Imagine trying to smoke all of that before the popo came through the door.. now that would be a high..
Why are firearms even mentioned here? there was no illegal activity associated with firearms in this case, so why are they being confiscated and why is that an issue?
Wow, and it’s only $2,000.00 to run over your wife. Go figure.
The drug war is a total fraud. It is a welfare progrm for courts, cops and corrections. Lawyers would have to get honest work otherwise. 40 years running and no end in sight, endless war with more people in jail, more broken homes, more chaos. The war causes more harm than good. A harm reduction policy would be advised. The balance sheet does not balance. This expenditure is insane. It is definitely a welfare program. End the war. End the maddness.