BANGOR, Maine — A Waldo County man found guilty last November of operating a large-scale, indoor marijuana farm in Monroe was sentenced to 10 years in prison during a hearing Friday in U.S. District Court before Chief Judge John Woodcock.
James F. Ford, 59, also was ordered to undergo eight years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty II announced in a news release.
Ford was convicted by a jury in November of last year of one count each of conspiracy to manufacture 100 or more marijuana plants, manufacturing 100 or more marijuana plants, maintaining a drug-involved place and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Ford, who was convicted of growing marijuana in Massachusetts, moved the family pot-growing operation from Massachusetts to Swan Lake Avenue in Monroe after he completed a sentence of probation in the Bay State, a federal prosecutor said during Ford’s jury trial.
Due to the Massachusetts conviction, Ford faced a mandatory minimum of 10 years and maximum of life in prison and a fine of up to $8 million on the conspiracy charge under the current federal sentencing guidelines.
He was among four family members found guilty of participating in the family pot-growing operation.
His wife, Darlene Ford, 58, also was convicted. A jury deadlocked in her first trial in September 2013, but she was convicted in a second jury trial in February of this year on one count each of conspiracy to manufacture 100 or more marijuana plants, maintaining a drug-involved place and aiding and abetting a felon in possession of a firearm.
She faces up to 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $5 million. She has yet to be sentenced.
The couple’s two sons both pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the grow operation.
Paul Ford, 33, of Dixmont was sentenced on June 9 to three years and 10 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release. His older brother, James T. Ford, 36, of Monroe, is serving a five-year federal prison sentence.
Detailed ledgers found in a desk outside the grow rooms detailed the amount of cash coming in and the dates of trips to Massachusetts to sell the marijuana and proved Ford was operating a sophisticated indoor pot farm, a federal prosecutor said earlier.
The prosecutor said the “family business brought in about $500,000 in cash between 2009 and 2011.”
Members of the Ford family were arrested in November 2011 when the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency raided the family’s garage and found hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of marijuana.
During the raid, police seized more than 300 marijuana plants in various stages of growth, 10 pounds of processed marijuana and two semiautomatic assault weapons.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office and the Maine State Police also were involved in the investigation.