DOVER-FOXCROFT – An Abbot couple charged in October with trafficking in marijuana after police found a “secret” growing room in their Pond Road home have been sentenced in 13th District Court.

Andrew Grant, 31, recently pleaded no contest to unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs and was sentenced to six months in jail. Grant also was fined $250 for hunting from a stand overlooking bait; $250 for placing bait to entice deer; and $370 for failing to timely register wild game.

His companion, Lisa Bickmore, 34, also pleaded no contest to unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $250.

The couple initially were charged with aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs because a 3-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy were living in the home. The Department of Health and Human Services was called to investigate, but the aggravated charge later was dropped, Investigator Guy Dow of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday.

It was a tip from a game warden, a puzzling electric bill, and a secret trapdoor behind a bureau at Grant’s home that led police to more than 4 pounds of marijuana.

During an investigation of illegal deer hunting, a game warden spotted marijuana growing on Grant’s property. The warden told deputies he had found a network of paths that led to garden plots that had been harvested and to another location where he found a marijuana plant surrounded by chicken wire.

During the execution of a search warrant, police found dried marijuana in plain view in a bedroom, but it was an electric bill that sparked a more intense search. The bill showed Grant was using more energy than most homes use.

Police moved a bureau from a wall and found a false wall and a trapdoor leading to a small, windowless room in an addition to the mobile home. The room was about 10 feet by 5 feet and contained shelves and growing equipment.