PORTLAND, Maine — What becomes of four remote land parcels in Washington and Penobscot counties where state and federal law enforcement officers raided a massive “pot plantation” in September 2009 will eventually be decided in federal court.
Five people and Haynes Timberland Inc. of West Enfield were indicted last month on federal drug and other charges after Maine State Police in 2009 received a tip about a marijuana-growing operation in Township 37, located about 10 miles northwest of the Washington County community of Wesley. A subsequent raid on Sept. 22, 2009, netted 2,943 high-quality marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $9 million.
An indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Bangor specifies four parcels of property implicated by the U.S. attorney for Maine in the growing operation, two in Washington County and two in Penobscot County, according to documents on file in both counties. They include a 22,000-acre parcel in Washington County where marijuana plants were seized. That parcel, according to records on file at the Washington County Registry of Deeds, was purchased by Haynes Timberland in May of 2004 for $4.2 million. It includes 11 leases for camps on the Second Lake of Old Stream River.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Clark declined last week to discuss the specifics of the case, which is scheduled for trial in November. Clark did, however, outline the procedures by which property associated with criminal activity can be forfeited and subsequently sold, with the proceeds reverting to the government.
“Federal law provides that real property that is acquired with the proceeds of felony violations of federal drug laws or used to facilitate violation of federal drug-trafficking laws is forfeitable,” said Clark, who oversees forfeiture actions out of the office of the U.S. Attorney in Portland.
As required by federal statutes, the indictment handed down in the pot plantation case specifies that, if convicted, the owners of the four parcels listed on notice that they will forfeit that those properties to the federal government.
“If this case goes to trial, then the government is going to have to convict the defendants of the drug trafficking crimes alleged with competent evidence and a burden of proof that is beyond a reasonable doubt,” Clark said. “If that occurs, in some circumstances, the defendant may want a jury to decide the next question, which is ‘Was the real property facing forfeiture connected to these crimes in a significant way?’ If the jury finds that it was, the court will issue a preliminary order of forfeiture.”
After a guilty verdict, Clark said, the government will advertise its intent to proceed with forfeiture, inviting claims by any mortgage holders, co-owners, municipalities that are owed property taxes and others with legal ties to the property being seized, including leaseholders.
“With mortgages, leases or easements, the fact that the government is acquiring the property by forfeit doesn’t vitiate valid encumbrances,” Clark said. “At sentencing, once all claims have been resolved, the court will vest title to the United States. The government doesn’t want to be a landlord and would endeavor to resolve all claims and sell the property to the highest bidder.”
In drug cases, Clark said, the U.S. Marshals Service will seize the property and post notices on the property. Historically, disposal of real estate seized has been handled through a local broker. More recently the marshals service contracts for property disposal, either at an appraised value or by auction.
Clark said federal law allows an “equitable share” of the proceeds from such sales to be distributed among the law enforcement agencies involved in cases that result in forfeitures. Court and police records show the mix of agencies involved in the September 2009 raid on the Washington County pot plantation included the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Clark stressed that the allegations contained in the Sept. 14, 2012, indictment are just that.
“An indictment is merely an accusation,” he said. “These defendants are presumed innocent.”
So are they saying the landowners were in on the crime? Or they were victims of a land grab by the feds?
Good question, was Haynes Timberland actually growing the stuff or were “squatters” using the land
Didcha read the article? “Five people and Haynes Timberland Inc. of West Enfield were indicted last month on federal drug and other charges ” … . “They include a 22,000-acre parcel in Washington County where marijuana plants were seized. That parcel, according to records on file at the Washington County Registry of Deeds, was purchased by Haynes Timberland in May of 2004 for $4.2 million. It includes 11 leases for camps on the Second Lake of Old Stream River.”
Yes I read that, they were indicted, they owned the land, but were they actually involved in the growing?
It’ s called a “trial” has a “jury” and will hand down a “verdict”
Oh really! Thanks for the education….
Malcolm A. French, 50, of Enfield has pleaded not guilty, he was ordered to give cheek swabs for DNA testing, they haven’t released results of the DNA testing. Malcolm French and his wife own Haynes Timberland.
Yes. The principle owner of Haynes was allegedly involved.
Both it looks like.
Both
Talk about redistribution of wealth!
I don’t think that the seizure of a criminal’s assets would be redistribution of wealth. Regardless of anyone’s opinion concerning the need to legalize marijuana or not, the fact remains it is currently illegal and has pretty well defined laws and punishments for breaking those laws.
more time in prison for growing a plant than for raping a kid…gotta love maine <3
It isn’t state it’s federal.
The cost of federal incarceration is significantly more than the cost of state incarceration. Not only will these people spend more time in jail than the typical child molester, they will cost the taxpayer more money in the process.
Maine actually has less penalties compared to other states
There should not be any penalty for growing a plant.
Tell that to Monsanto and Cargill.
Those behomoths of frankenfarms , and Obamas huge supporters, will sue you silly for a perceived cultivation of one of their plants, with out permission.
They are the worst enemy of american self sufficiency and the healthy food movement.
Because this is being tried under Federal Law by the Feds not by the State of Maine!
This case needs to be watched VERY closely.
All the greenline enviromental terrorists are salivating over the thought of the federal government having title to this vast amount of private property with just one real estate transaction away from it becoming a national park.
If in fact Justice decides it must be forfeited, it must surely be put up for auction immediately.
NO PARK FOR ME
Well hopefully we will all vote for Romney and straighten this country out!!!
Just like the last Republican administration
‘Just like the last Republican administration’
That’s the one that created biggest new BIG GOVERNMENT Deptment, ever, …. and that’s the same at the center of the Federal Government seizing entire Maine Townships, right ?
That is right the Government grew more from 2000 to 2008 then any other administration.The Patriot Act created a whole new Department.They also had the worst job creation then any other and wages droped.
Right! Let’s fix our country up by voting for the guy who’s even worse than Obama in every respect. Yeah, I’m sure that’ll work.
spoken like gilligan
Who wrecked the boat, in the first place, little buddy ?
Yeah, dude, quick, sell it to a paper company so they can bulldoze the place and then leave! Maybe Exxon can grab it up and start fracking! No sweat, yowsa, you won’t be forced to go over there no matter what it’s turned into… LOL
I’d sooner see it as house lots than to let the envirowackos get it.
That “cut off your nose to spite your face” attitude seems pretty common among you right wingers.
What “envirowackos” are you talking about, anyway? The fishermen and hikers and canoers and hunters who want preserve our forests and rivers and lakes from destruction? The wackos are those like you who don’t appreciate what a great and irreplaceable a natural resource the natural world is. Clean air and drinking water aren’t produced in factories, Yowsa.
Livelyhoods are produced in factories, but all you can talk about is how we need to save the wilderness “up there”.
WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?
WHAT ABOUT THE TEACHERS?
WHAT ABOUT THE POOR?
WHAT ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT?
It’s always the same mantra with you lefties.
Actually, if you left the wilderness as it is, I could go live there. Thus, it could produce and sustain my livelyhood. I could build a house from natural materials, hunt and live off the land quite effectively. You don’t need a factory to have a livelyhood, chief. There are lots of other ways to live that dont involve building factories in the middle of the woods.
Would you advocate chopping down the rain forest to build a factory that produces tooth-picks from said rain forest? Clearly, tooth-picks are more useful to you personally than those stupid trees. How about the few old growth forests left? Would you chop those down to build a Walmart for a few jobs? Would you destroy the great barrier reef to build a ship-yard?
At what point do we say: “Okay, we, as a species, have enough. Its time to learn to use what we have effectively.”
Are you also in favor of drilling for oil in the polar icecaps? After-all, they ain’t yours an I sure bet your car could use some gas.
Not me…Made that mistake once before, back in the Seventies. Now Loon Mountain (just north of Lincoln New Hampshire) is houselots. No more hunting, fishing, hiking… just a plethoria of no tresspassing signs.
You are correct, it seems almost all private property these days is under some kind of threat, either by being taxed beyond ones ability to pay, or our mortgage situation as it is, the Fed and States having designs of ownership under some of the seemingly most illegal seizure laws ever concieved, they counter the Constitution and Rights of Man.
One only needs to watch our commander in chief in action to see the trashing of our beloved US Constitution.
ROMNEY/RYAN 2012
I just seemed to have some vague memory that, the trashing of our US Constitution really got underway with George W. Bush, Republican.
Obama/Biden 2012
This stuff is settled law, with legal precedents and everything.
Good Gawd son quit acting like drug forfeitures are some new threat to you and your crummy apartment. Don’t want the Fed ripping your land? Don’ t grow so much herb the local residents can detect it and report you.
And for the record Obama has yet to have any of his initiatives or legislation declared unconstitutional by the supreme court, with the robes and big Grecian pillars outside….
That same Supreme Court that ruled in favor of Citizens United?
That same Supreme Court that went against all ideas of democracy and the Constitution by appointing a president in 2004 for the first time ever in the history of the country?
Just because a corrupt bunch of “judges” hasn’t declared any of Obama’s most outrageous, tyrannical and obviously unconstitutional dictates “unconstitutional” — the power to assassinate without a trial or even charges being filed, to make American citizens disappear (just like Idi Amin did!) — doesn’t mean jack.
I voted for Obama in 2008 but won’t be making that mistake again. Jill Stein has my vote this year.
2000 Lucy. That is the year of the Hanging Chads.
and
Romney/Ryan scares this Republican who voted McCain Palin in 2008. I’ll be holding my nose, but voting to re-elect
Yeah, Romney the billionaire, and Ryan the sociapath are going to watch out for the rights of Maine landowners.
You own NOTHING in these United States, you just get to rent it from the government till they want it back.
If you are worried about the government taking what you have worked for, you should be very scared if Obama is reelected as he has the personal belief the the redistribution of wealth and assets is a true social(ist) responsibility.
Romney is not a billionaire, he is a self made millionaire and Ryan is a very smart and is fiscally keen individual who understands the budgetary process and the two of them as a team are what we need to get this economy headed in the right direction. Obama wants more and more people to be dependant upon the government for their survival through social and welfare programs that he feels the rest of us have an obligation to support, all the while, we struggle to provide for our own families.
Overheard at the gas station while buying $ 4.10 / gallon gas.
“Hey, buddy I just wanted to let you know that somebody played a dirty trick and put a Obama/Biden sticker on your car. You should hurry and take it off before people think that you have lost your mind and are actually supporting four more years of their socialist agenda”
Romney/Ryan 2012…The only logical choice to right our ship.
You can take off the tinfoil hat, now.
Typical lame response when there is no logical argument from the left.
It’s only a conspiracy if the conservatives are to blame (in thier mind, or what’s left of it).
“I’d sooner see it as house lots than to let the envirowackos …. ” all the greenline enviromental terrorists.”…get it”
“NO PARK FOR ME”
You are deluded.
I must suggest you have serous comprehension problems if you actually read this article, at all, before using it to rant on your one trick .
That raises the question of both your personal and the collective credibility of your anti-progress AND, IRONICALLY and anti-free-market, anti-private property, hate group
… and all of its hysterical propaganda.
But don’t get me wrong.
I encourage it, just as I support your Constitutional right to be both foolish and fight against your own your and grandchildren’s personal best interests.
It is both illuminating on not only the future of Penobscot County land use, but it bleeds over raising the comprehension and credibility question on your other rabbit conservative rhetoric and views, especially any economic ones.
People should understand who , and exactly which sorts of traditional American values that voting Conservative empowers.
YowsaYowsaYowsa, keep up all the good work.
Some day in the not too distant future people will look back and say “Pot was illegal?”…..Just like we look back at the 1920’s…”Booze was illegal?” LOL…Prohibition just doesn’t work…It never has. Marijuana is the largest cash crop in both Florida and California….Ironic, isn’t it…Tobacco which kills thousands each year and causes pain and suffering on so many is actually subsidized by you and me…..
Same comment had to be mod approved which will not happen.
Overreach & watch the cheers. Just another legal rip
off by the Feds, etc. Martin Niemöller’s words are as (perhaps even more so)
meaningful now as they were poignant in N a z i Germany.
Interesting… especially when you stop to consider that the same government is protecting half of southern Afghanistan because the land is used for growing opium poppies.
“Honey I’m home.
nevermind why our bank account’s suddenly grown.
It’s funny, we’re so out of this debt from this money we owe.
Woulda ya…mind if I told you I had two governments overthrown, To keep our son enrolled in a private school, and to keep ya tummy swollen.
C’mon, our home was built on the foundation of bloody throats
The hungry stolen of they souls, of course this country’s runnin’ coke (AND HEROINE) I took a stunted oath to hush the one’s who know.
But CIA conducts the flow of these young hustlers who lust for dough.” -immortal technique
The government hates competition.
Haynes Timberland bought 6500 acres in Danforth, including Greenland Ridge around 2002???
Might seem ridiculous, but how about just give the land back to the state? That too simple or what? The idea that these folks actually paid 4.2 million for that land really needs looking into — to who, when, how? Really gonna put it out for bid and have it bought up by a paper company from Taiwan…
The part that isn’t used for hunting camps for law enforcement and the party faithful.
Seriously, are you kidding. Do you really believe something as foolish as that.
better then a park for roxane
With 2900 + plant’s seized, the land titled in the name of the those indicted and a clear line from the plant’s to the cash, this one is not a hard one to see. The real shame is gonna be those who have legal camp’s on the land. It’is gonna be a struggle to get the camp lease’s seperated from the forfeture order’s and keep them off the auction block. The Counties, on the other hand, are probably drooling over the property tax’s that are gonna come out of this. Same for the local PD’s and Sheriff’s Office. Seizure and forfeiture money are almost a gift of heaven.
It’s not a gift, it’s theft.
i know that the 11 camps mentioned in the article on Second Lake Old Stream are not leased (they used to be leases, but were sold off in the last decade or so).
Not to mention that which slides out of sight when they take turns looking the other way. Gross amounts.
I am confused and would appreciate some clarification. We purchased land from Haynes several years ago; it was a great deal and they were very professional. We dealt with the owners directly. Who are the people charged? Are they owners, investors or hired hands? If the owners didn’t have knowledge of this activity why should they forfeit 22, 000 acres of land? Would the government stoop that low?
The same government that would rather incarcerate 800,000 Americans each year than admit that marijuana is harmless? Nahhhhhhh.
Just saying, it’s a stretch for the government to confiscate this land. I completely agree that pot should be legalized, for many reasons I won’t get into. This is a vast chunk of land. To lose it because of stupid employees or a greedy government is insane. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out in the courts.
Haynes Timberland is owned by Barbara French, whose husband is one of the accused. She is a sister to the people who own H.C. Haynes, who are professional business people.
business people yes, professional not so much. Rapers of the land. If you are going to play someday you will pay.
Very helpful – thanks.
You bet it would cardpuff
Cartels put us all in danger, but they’re supported by law enforcement,
private prisons, and substance abuse counselors who make a living off of
prohibition. How is marijuana dangerous again? Oh yeah, it isn’t.
Industrial hemp isn’t the least bit dangerous either but it is also
illegal for some unknown reason. Industrial hemp and marijuana cannot be
grown together. Marijuana is the flowering bud from female cannabis
plants and cannot be grown alongside industrial hemp, so why is
industrial hemp illegal? Prohibition is a sham and American citizens
have been getting shafted for over 75 years because of our lying
government. Its high time we put an end to prohibition and the
corruption it breeds.
“Clark said federal law allows an “equitable share” of the proceeds from
such sales to be distributed among the law enforcement agencies involved
in cases that result in forfeitures.”
Ahhh yes, stealing people land and selling it so they can buy new toys. How lovely. Nothing like having a vested interest.
I think if you read former articles concerning this, you will find that the principle owner of Haynes Timberland is also one of the main defendants in this case. If one is going to utilize their business to further their criminal activities than they should be prepared to lose the assets used in that process. If you do not want to lose your land for growing marijuana on it, then don’t do it.
They’re not growing nerve gas semloh. Where would you grow it? At sea?
I have read former articles. I know who is being charged for what and why. Its a shame. The policy regarding this plant does more damage than the plant itself. I suppose that growers probably shouldn’t grow on their own land for this very reason.
If you follow laws simply because you are afraid of the consequences of not following them, Id say you are a slave to fear and to an oppressive government.
Theft by agents of the government is theft none-the-less.
These “racketeering laws” were largely cheered by the general public when they were enacted against organized crime. Today the government can take your house, car, camp, or land if they simply find a sellable amount of weed. You don’t have to sell it, it can be totally for personal use, the government doesn’t have to prove an actual sale.
Now tell me again about our “free republic?”
And even if you’re found innocent, you don’t get your property back.
Land of the “free,” home of the wrongfully imprisoned and totally ripped-off.
The U.S. Department of “homeland Security”
This is the crew LePage should have labled “Gestopo.”
Here’s how it works:
Reichstag burned by agent of foreign power. People get scared. Government inserts paramilitary organization to “keep us safe” Paramilitary organization acts against the people whom the government said it was to protect.
Call me a conspiricy theorist if you will, but history is just rife with incidents of this type of action.
Rome, Russia, England, France, Egypt…and?
Smoke it if you got it!
The federal government has no business arresting Mainers in Maine.. The land must remain in the landowners possession.
Unfamiliar with how drug forfeiture laws work?
Don’t tell me; you thought Tubbs and Crockett bought their cigarette boat on cop salaries
Hardy har har
I’ll bet those 11 camp owners are praying that RQ doesn’t get ownership of that land because we all know what will happen to those camps if she does buy it.
yeah, just ask the Matagamon camp owners
Speaking of how an authoritarian totalitarian system really works, what is that any politically correct thinking person should JUST KNOW, Dianne ?
I doubt RQ has much interest in this land. Too far away from the Katahdin area.
I hope you’re right. I really don’t want see any more people have their family camps destroyed. It sickened me the last time it happened. I hope whoever does buy it will have some shred of human decency and at least try to work out something with the camp owners that would make everyone happy.
Federal law enforcement strikes again. I wonder why here in Maine. Why not go after the Mexican Cartels who have spilled the blood of thousands.
because this is a lot less risky and very profitable for the Feds
It’s way easier here. Not a chance of getting shot at by a Maine pot farmer.
Look at the picture, it’s just a field of weeds.
The world is totally mad.
I thought it was a beauty too.
The gov’t is seeing $$$. Is this the reason a plant is illegal; so the gov’t can steal peoples’ land? What a backwards world we live in.
camps on Second Lake Old Stream are not on leased land.
Harsher even than molesting babies Hussar.
I’ve written twice in defense of the pot farmers. Both times disqus didn’t post it. This would have been a good place to start organizing support for all pot farmers.alas
The prisons are full to the rafters with pot farmers. Why? because of the illegal(imo) unconstitutional(imo) prohibition of marijuana.
This prohibition was born of myth and lies, mainly to keep immigrants out of this country of immigrants.
there’s a few words we can’t say here
the main political party in Germany in 1943 for instance
these 6 people face penalties more severe than that of some of those aforementioned criminals of strife.
Is it me or is it every time law enforcement finds pot plants they always call it high quality. How do they know if it is high quality.. How do they figure on a price of 9 million? How do they know how much yield these plants will produce? I have always wondered about that..
Its not just you, they always call it high quality. They also called this a high tech operation. Not sure how high tech dirt and sun is, but if your a cop, apparently its pretty well up there. The whole thing is a crap shoot.
In order for those plants to be worth 9 million, they’d have to harvest a pound from every one of them and sell it for 3 grand a pound. Not going to happen. Not going to harvest a pound per plant and not no-one sells 3k pounds at 3k each.
Its all lies. All of it.
Does anyone know if the penalties for growing marijuana are harsher than the penalties for growing black currants in Maine?
There has got to be a special place in hell for the self-righteous scum in law and law enforcement for what they are doing to the citizens of this country who are only exercising the fundamental and constitutional freedom involved in the use of a drug that, by all indications, is rather helpful and healthful. Even if it weren’t, it is for sure less harmful than alcohol, than cigarettes, than all manner of prescription drugs allowed. The DEA, the worst of the lot, even ignored their own administrative judge who found the evidence on pot not warranting criminal sanctions.