FARMINGTON — About 750 of the 1,000 marijuana plants police had seized as evidence and had stored in a locked building was discovered stolen Wednesday morning.
Police say sometime after 10:30 p.m. and before 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, one of the overhead doors at a garage the Farmington Police Department uses for storage at the intersection of High Street and Farmington Falls Road was pried open and an estimated three-quarters or 750 of the 1,000 marijuana plants were stolen said Farmington Police Chief Jack Peck.
The pot plants were pulled and confiscated reportedly from fields in Phillips and Township 6 by agents from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency on Tuesday. Two men, Tad Smith, 35, and his father Joesph Smith, 62, were arrested on marijuana cultivation charges. They have since been released from jail on $500 cash bail.
The MDEA got the OK from Peck to store the pot plants overnight in the locked garage, which is traditionally used for storing tires, a police bicycle and hazard signs, until agents could return and transport the crop to be destroyed.
Peck said in the past, other law enforcement agencies have used the garage in Farmington for temporary storage of evidence.
MDEA agents worked until 10:30 p.m. Tuesday unloading the pot plants that were transported from Phillips and the Weld area. On a visit to the garage at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Ed Hastings, an investigator with the state’s Fire Marshal’s Office, and Chief Peck discovered one door had been pried open and they could see some pot plants inside but not nearly the 1,000 plants that were supposed to be in there.
“I called MDEA and said, ‘you’re never going to believe this but your marijuana plants were stolen,'” Peck said. A state police trooper and his trained dog were called to the scene to try and track which way the thief went with the plants, but it had rained overnight and the scent apparently ended at High Street.
Since the stolen pot is now Peck’s case, he and his officers have canvassed the neighborhood asking if anyone saw anything.
“We have no witnesses or suspects,” he said at this point.
The garage is in a very visible area where lots of traffic pass within 20 feet of the garage, Peck noted. If agents were unloading marijuana throughout the day, chances are someone saw it.
In the meantime, all of the items stored in the garage have been removed until a new door and alarm can be installed. “We won’t be storing any more evidence in there,” he said.
Police are asking for help that if anyone saw anything suspicious between 10:30 Tuesday and 9:30 a.m. Wednesday to please call 778-6311.
can’t you use your time and taxpayer’s money on something that matters?
Might want to put Ed on the polygraph…..
Farmington Police Department uses for storage at the intersection of High Street . (HIGH STREET THATS FUNNY).. police corruption???????
“If agents were unloading marijuana throughout the day, chances are someone saw it.”
They deff WERE unloading them … I saw them unloading them when I went by heading in town and then heading back home. tracking dog and all!
Um………..
Wow!
Were any of the tires stolen?
Obviously the MDEA is fighting the war on drugs completely unarmed!!! Time to wave the white flag and let the Dems tax the hell out of the stuff. Don’t bother to respond to “Help wanted-Rocket scientist” ads!!!
Meanwhile, as the police were chasing around, trying to find their stolen pot, 6 drunk drivers, 3 kids, high on meth, 1 unregistered sexual predator and 2 adults with revoked licenses, drove by the old town garage and grinned.
Ok so now the EVIDENCE is stolen…does this mean that the Smiths wont be prosecuted because LACK OF EVIDENCE????
Pretty funny that the cops would put it somewhere where it could be stolen..should have kept it at the jail house!
Amazing – the comments I mean.
Very interesting! Everyone in town saw the pot going in, no one in town saw it coming out. Must be someone from out of town.
Why not just take pics and video of the plants ,estimate the quantity. burn them in place, and throw him in jail. The number of plants matters little once you get over 10 or so. He was obviously growing to traffic the stuff. What a complete waste of taxpayers money., all over a stupid weed.
Wow!!! I am amazed that no one saw anything! Why would you think a garage that has no cameras would be the best place to store pot plants????
I don’t see how this is possible the police check the doors on all the shops downtown throughout the night. No one was checking on these plants ALL night. Someone REALLY dropped the ball on this one. Is this really just a joke. Sounds really fishy to me.
Actually the number of plants matters a lot. Over 500 is a class A crime, between 100-499 is class B. 100-5 is class C. So the number of plants matter a lot. This is America and I sure as heck would just want them to estimate it.
However their evidence locker is a very secure joint to say the least.
I thought pot was burned at the sheriff’s dept. That’s what someone told me. So if that’s true, why wasn’t it taken there? And when it IS burned, it ought to be done publicly, so all of us know. I say legalize it. More money and man power is spent on sniffing this stuff down when it could be legal and the state could put a tax on it. It’s no where near as deadly as oxychontin or oxycodone is, yet that’s legal. And no, I don’t smoke pot. Used to, don’t now, but would if I wanted to. Legalize it and let the police have time to catch the rapists, burglars and other bums, instead of chasing after an herb.
Now that the Evidence is gone can the court still convict the people that this pot had come from?
Sounds like either someone was hired to steal it or an inside job!!!!
Why not take it to the jail like they used too!
And I agree with Leona’s post..legalize it and go after the real criminals…NO I DONT SMOKE IT!
There are a lot of ppl out there selling the pills and they are still doing it, even some of the cops know it.
Not what you were expecting huh Steve. Better luck next time!
I bet the local store is out of zig-zags………and chips.
Why are people so negative towards the Police Department? Maybe if the town would of voted to build the new police department, the Police would have more options for storing evidence that needs to be stored until it needs to be destroyed. I bet your not negative to the police when you need their assistance.
Legalize it-that’s a way to bring more “green jobs” to the state….
Yep, I think its” high” time we did something about this pot issue. I wonder what will happen now, with all the plants gone. Looks like this case has gone up in smoke. Think of all the time wasted. I bet if they had one of those pot sniffing dogs walk up and down the neighborhood it’s knees would buckle from olfactory overload.Well, look on the bright side, think of all the cig paper and bic lighter sales this must have generated, as well as take out. The local business owners may well give this man an award for generating business in an down economy. Call it the “western maine stimulus” medal, and give it away once a year to a deserving person.Someone could even write a book about it, call it “the seven leaves of september” or how about , “This buds for you” ?? The dog should get Al D. to write a peice about this , he could call it “The pot storage garage and other mistakes” It’s something to think about. :)
Now that the Evidence is gone can the court still convict the people that this pot had come from? 250 plants remain, so yes even the feds can come in and the federal judge would be mandated to hand down a minimum mandatory sentence(more than 5yrs) Best if these two donot get cocky with the police over the evidence.
WOW…lots of really smart (or lack there of) comments……Let’s think about it…Jonboy do you even have a job and pay taxes?? Or do the working class people such as those officers doing their job by enforcing the law that THEY DID NOT WRITE..however IS THIER JOB TO ENFORCE, and to farmtowngirl….ummm…GUILTY???? Seems like you may know or maybe was the one who “stole” the plants???? What a genious to admit to seeing….!!! And to SPECIAL ED were you the drunk, unregistered sexual predator driving with a revoked license with 6 of your drunk welfare recipiant buddies, high on meth with your 3 crib midgets driving by in your jacked up icecream truck…that grinned??? TO LEONA…yeah the pot is burned at the sheriff”s department…..one joint at a time….REALLY???? Next time maybe they will use the pot to have a “PUBLIC” witch burning, after the hanging…at the town sqare….AND maybe they will send out flyers first to notify everyone cause it’s everyone business and therefore if you stood close enough you could get a good contact high………..IF YOU WANTED TO…cause you don’t smoke it…….anymore…OR LESS….YEAH!!!!!! TO NATIVE MAINAH…….before you take a shot at a well seasoned officer….yeah might want to make sure that this was not a set up!!!!! He might be saying to you, “Better luck next time!!’…..Some people/idiots don’t realize WHO REALLY gets the LAST LAUGH!!!!!!!!
geezzz……somebody woke up on the wrong side of the broom this morning……………………..
2lawabidingcitizen2………
Are you calling me names because I used my real name and you didn’t like it so you changed it? Or was it because you didn’t agree with my opinion? Or was it that you just didn’t grasp the jist of what I was saying?
2lawabidingcitizen2: you are 2 funny. i work two (count them, 1, 2) jobs and pay enough taxes to have an opinion. nice try. also i don’t think you should be commenting on the intelligence of people’s comments, seeing as how all you’ve managed to do is string together a series of mocking insults without any substantive criticism. you do get style points for your interesting usage of ellipses, however.
2lawabidingcitizen2; Freedom of speech is for all citizens, it’s not just your constitutional right. You should understand that all public officials are subject to ridicule. The event is an embarrasment, get over it. Your proclamare displays a boastful elite status. (questionable) The readers comments have angered you, you cut them down and claimed a victory. Please spell genius again for the readers in your statement of apology, if you would be so kind.
So, let me get this straight, if everyone saw the pot go in, but no one saw the pot go out. Maybe someone should be casing the all the fast food chains in the area and the smoke shop, to see if there was a spike in munchies and zig zags sales. Then Start ruffing up the local drug pushers, Lord knows there is enough of them in a 20 mile radious in farmington. Beside this is not a political issue, it was a case of stole drug evidence, so let the cops do there fricken job. Maybe you should help instead of harrass. Things might go faster….
2lawabidingcitizens you are pretty proud of yourself arent you? The question is…DO U HAVE A JOB AND PAY TAXES?? Do you not write what your opinion is? Well thats exactly what each and everyone of us are doing also. We all have OPINIONS..its OUR RIGHT TO! So get over what people are saying. Its everyone’s own opinion and if you dont like it.Go blow smoke somewhere else!
This should be a wake up call that the Farmington Police Department needs a professional facility. This time it was only some marijuana plants but had it been evidence that could have made a difference in the prosecution of a more serious crime then the joking would not be here and in its place there would be calls for answers about why there isn’t a more secure facility available for the police to use.
Security cameras and alarm systems are pretty damn cheap nowadays.Even a simple ADT system on the garage would have driven the thieves off. They dont need a zillion dollar facility to store pot.
Bumb deal for Jack thats for sure…just getting his new postion…but a great deal for Tad!
I asked a federal agent about this scenario and the funny thing is these plants didn’t need to be stored. Simply videoing, photographing and then burning the evidence would have been better. Now because they moved the evidence and stored it, someone broke in, and contaminated the evidence these guys with a good attorney are in the clear
To your response what the ????, Yes i do have a job, no i do not smoke, yes i can sit on my high horse, i do have one, and yes everyone is aloud an opinion. How ever in respect to the police. It is more efficient to help them than harrasse and point fingers. Especially when they are working on limited resorces. It is just rude and uncivilized. If you needed help for any reason, you would demand 100% from the police. So now the police are asking for help and they expect the same from there community.
Gee Hozhed,
You seem to have all the answers. There are rules for the storage of evidence. The Farmington Police are working under some pretty miserable conditions and sooner or later the citizens of the town are either going to have to invest some money to fix the problems or make some hard decisions about the future of the department. A security camera and an alarm on a garage is not the answer to this embarassment.
“with a good attorney are in the clear” Exactly how now? Plants need not be stored and had been video’d. This case is cut and clear evidence was documented. lol, jailhouse lawyers.
2lawabidingcitizen2 …
wouldn’t you like to know?
Yeah bob, a security cam and alarm might not be the answer to everything, but they would have avoided this particular embarrassment. BTW….how many thousand of dollars did the police spend grabbing this pot? After all the time and money spent on the bust, a $15 an hour security guard armed with a box of donuts and a cell phone might have been a good idea . Like mojo says, I dont believe the pot has to stored to get a conviction. What if a guy had 5000 plants and got busted? We gonna store all that? Where?, In a haybarn? Come on. video the stuff, take pics, measure the plants for an average size ,and weight,count them, and then pile them up and burn them all in front of a camera.
Is their going to be a follow up story? Interested in seeing where this is going.
Wow! Why can’t people care this much about the poor and homeless, or all the children going to bed tonight bruised or hungry!! People, put some effort into what really matters! I feel really bad for everyone involved, but we need to let the Police handle it! Cops are good people!!
Does anyone know that the land on the T6 mountain the police were serching takes in 35,000 acres?? Is Wagner Land management selling Pot Plots along with it’s bear seats? I guess if the police find something on your neighbors land you are guilty, correct? Just because something was found on the 35,000 acres surronding the Smiths property, does that mean it was theirs? Was this a set up or an inside job!
Ok wait a sec…mummzywhit.I WAS NOT TALKING TO YOU> YES I FEEL THE COPS ARE TRYING TO DO THEIR JOB> I WASNT RESPONDING TO ANYTHING U SAID. I WAS TALKING ABOUT 2lawabidingcitizens with them not liking ppls opinions and not liking that some say it like it is. So maybe you need to get off your “high horse” and look at their post. Who was I harrassing? It was MY OPINION!
I have a job and I pay taxes. I am all for police doing their jobs. And I also think they should have a place of their own that is surveillanced and protected so that it doesnt happen again
Someone saw something that day I am sure. so like I said in my other post..it was either an inside job or someone might have been hired to steal it..no evidence no conviction? THATS MY OPINION AND I”M STICKING TO IT>>whether u like it or not!
Yeowzah!!!
why was i not in on this? i missed free weed day!