BANGOR, Maine — A Monroe woman was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to 6½ years in prison for conspiring to manufacture marijuana, maintaining a drug-involved premises and aiding and abetting a felon in possession of a firearm.
Darlene Ford, 59, also was ordered to undergo three years of supervised release after completing her jail sentence, U.S Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II said in a news release.
Ford was found guilty after a jury trial on Feb. 6 of last year.
Earlier court proceedings showed that in November 2011, a search warrant was executed at Ford’s home in Monroe. Drug agents found a large and sophisticated indoor marijuana growing operation and two rifles, according to federal prosecutors.
Trial evidence showed that Ford, her husband and sons conspired to grow hundreds of marijuana plants at the residence between 2006 and 2011. Ford also illegally aided and abetted her husband, a convicted felon, to possess the two rifles found during the search of her home.
The investigation that led to the convictions was conducted by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office and the Maine State Police.
Last year’s trial was the second for Ford. In 2013, a federal judge declared a mistrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict after more than nine hours of deliberation.