Turner Man Pleads Guilty to Charges Stemming from Marijuana Cultivation

PORTLAND, Maine:  A Turner man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Portland to manufacturing 100 or more marijuana plants, possessing with intent to distribute marijuana, possessing an unregistered silencer and transferring property subject to forfeiture, U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced.

According to court records, on February 27, 2018, law enforcement officers searched the residence of Andrew Waite, 31, and two warehouses under his control. In the warehouses, agents seized more than 500 pounds of marijuana, 104 sheets of marijuana concentrate and more than 350 marijuana plants. In Waite’s residence, agents seized approximately 100 pounds of marijuana, approximately $216,000 in U.S. currency, a 2010 Ferrari, firearms, ammunition and a silencer with no markings or serial number. 

On April 18, 2018, Waite transferred title of his residence to his brother in order to prevent or impair seizure of the property for criminal forfeiture.

Waite faces at least five years and up to 40 years in prison and a fine of $5,000,000 on the marijuana manufacturing charge; up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on the silencer possession charge; and up to five years in jail and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the marijuana possession and property transfer charges. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case.

The prosecution is a result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Program, a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  The OCDETF mission is to identify, investigate and prosecute high-level members of drug trafficking enterprises, bringing together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal, state and local law enforcement.