Brownville man guilty of growing pot

BANGOR – A jury Wednesday found a Brownville man guilty of taking part in a marijuana-growing operation five years ago at a camp on Schoodic Lake. The jury deliberated for about three hours before announcing its decision.

Richard Rodrigue, 28, was found guilty of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

He was taken into custody after the verdict and was being held at the Penobscot County Jail.

A sentencing date has not been set, but he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

Rodrigue testified Wednesday in U.S. District Court that he lived in the two-room camp on Schoodic Lake where an indoor nursery was set up. He told the jury that he knew Alton Sherman was growing marijuana but was not aware of the scope of the operation.

The two-day trial, presided over by U.S. District Judge John Woodcock, began Tuesday in federal court in Bangor. Its start was delayed two months when Sherman, who had agreed to plead guilty, failed to show up for a court appearance on May 2.

Sherman was arrested over the weekend by U.S. marshals but did not testify against Rodrigue.

He is expected to plead guilty to the drug charges and go to trial later this year on the gun charge. If convicted on all charges, Sherman also would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, five for the marijuana charge and five for the gun charge.

The two men were indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2004 on charges of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana, manufacturing marijuana, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Law enforcement officials in 2002 seized an estimated 570 plants – 85 adult plants in a remote area off Route 11 and 485 plants in an elaborate nursery with grow lights, timing devices and fans that were used to vent the smell of marijuana from the camp where the men were staying.

Neither man owned the camp where they lived and grew marijuana from fall 2001 through June 11, 2002, when they were arrested, U.S. Attorney Daniel Perry said Thursday.

One of the reasons the case took so long to come to trial, according to Perry, was the government’s appeal of the judge’s order to suppress some evidence. That decision was resolved last year in the prosecutor’s favor by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a similar case.

Efforts to reach defense attorney Leonard Sharon of Lewiston were unsuccessful.