How Maine Police Found an Illegal Marijuana Grow House

An image taken by a camera on a pole of a 2008 Toyota Sienna at a house at 56 Pine St. in Mexico which was an illegal facility for the cultivation of marijuana. Credit: Screenshot of federal court records

A tracking device on a minivan and a camera on a pole watching a house played key roles in an investigation into an illegal marijuana-growing facility across from a Maine daycare center, recently unsealed court records show.

In March, members of an FBI task force investigating the property put a tracking device on a gray 2008 Toyota Sienna minivan that regularly parked at a suspected illegal marijuana grow house at 56 Pine St. in Mexico. The property was was raided by the police on June 14 and 498 marijuana plants was seized.

The tracking device filing and affidavit, unsealed Friday, offers a rare glimpse into the investigative techniques police use to identify illegal pot-growing properties across the state. Since the beginning of 2024, about 30 raids have taken place in Maine.

The federal government is crack down on illegal marijuana grow houses after a leaked federal government memo from August said there are up to 270 large-scale illegal farms in Maine linked to Chinese organized crime, with the money being used for crimes in the United States or sent back to China.

The application for the arrest warrant was supposed to be completed by the end of May, but it was extended by 90 days due to the ongoing criminal investigation.

“Here, in particular, the targets of the investigation are under active surveillance and the execution of a search warrant at a related location in Mexico, Maine, is being contemplated,” the US Attorney’s Office wrote in a court filing. “Therefore, primarily to protect against the targets’ risk of flight and destruction of evidence, the government wishes to remain secret in its investigation at this time.”

In late February, Inspector Sgt. George Cayer with Rumford police noticed the smell of unburned marijuana around the property in Mexico and the two story garage had a ventilation system that was actively in use. Cayer is part of the FBI’s task force, according to the search warrant application and affidavit.

Cayer did not respond to requests for comment on the investigation.

He looked at the house in February, during which time he saw people making several trips with black trash bags — likely containing discarded roots and clippings from a new crop — from the garage to the back of the house.

Cayer also saw people carrying trays of new plants into the property, according to court records.

The property was across the street from a daycare center and 950 feet from a middle school, according to court records.

Throughout Cayer’s surveillance, the minivan was frequently on the property. Following the minivan would not have been an efficient use of police resources, which is why he requested the tracking device, according to court records.

A tracking device was installed on the minivan with New York plates from March 3 to April 17, according to court records. The same make and model of minivan was used in other illegal cultivations, incl a person in Passadumkeag who had three registered in his name.

The task force also sued Central Maine Power for electrical records at the property. At peak usage, the Mexico property used 52,494 kilowatt-hours of electricity for $13,498 in November, according to those records. A large store or hotel would use about 60,000 kilowatt hours a month, Versant spokesperson Marissa Minor previously told the Bangor Daily News.

Two people, Guo Hong Lei and Xiandu Zhang, linked to the illegal cultivation property were arrested and charged in federal court. Their cases are pending in U.S. District Court in Portland. Both men have surrendered their passports during the sentencing process.

A camera was installed on a pole, took pictures of the property and caught Lei walking in and out of the house several times a day for several days, according to court records.