Man gets 4 months for growing marijuana

DOVER-FOXCROFT – A Sangerville man who was involved in a marijuana growing operation last summer in Sebec was sentenced Monday in 13th District Court.

Adam St. Louis, 27, who pleaded guilty to Class B marijuana cultivation, was sentenced to 31/2 years to the Department of Corrections with all but four months suspended. Presiding Judge Kevin Stitham also placed St. Louis on probation for four years with special conditions that include substance abuse treatment.

“I know I was wrong, and I know I did a crime,” St. Louis told Stitham on Monday in court. St. Louis admitted he had used marijuana and had harvested about 4 ounces each week for his own use, but he said he did not sell any of it.

“It is clear you have a pretty significant substance abuse problem,” Stitham told St. Louis. In meting out the sentence, the judge took into consideration the fact that it was St. Louis’ first offense, the number of plants involved and the message the sentencing would have on others.

St. Louis was one of two men arrested in August after a lengthy investigation by the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.

A second man, David Ernest Velli, 57, who owned the Hughes Road home where the marijuana was found, was charged with marijuana cultivation and aggravated trafficking in marijuana. His case is pending.

During the execution of a search warrant at the Sebec home, police seized 1,365 plants and recovered three firearms, including an assault rifle.

When police learned that Velli was the home’s owner, a warrant was obtained to search another home owned by Velli on Davidson Road in Abbot. Piscataquis County Sheriff John Goggin said at the time of the arrests that Velli and St. Louis were known to be working together in the operation.

At Velli’s farmhouse in Abbot, authorities found several bags of marijuana, paraphernalia, a safe containing even more pot and some cash, and “enough ammunition to start a small war,” the sheriff said.

Velli is a felon who was convicted in a string of burglaries in Connecticut during the 1970s, Goggin said.

Piscataquis County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy, who had argued for 31/2 years of straight prison time for St. Louis, said outside the courtroom that he hoped the sentence will have some impact.