FARMINGTON — Two marijuana businesses searched by federal, state and county law enforcement agencies Tuesday received town permits last year requested by Lucas Sirois of Rangeley, according to officials.
Selectmen approved the applications in August 2019 for an adult-use marijuana store at 407 Wilton Road and an adult-use marijuana cultivation and manufacturing business at 374 High St.
The applications were submitted by Sirois under the business names of Narrow Gauge Botanicals LLC and Lakemont LLC, respectively, according to selectmen’s minutes.
Both were searched by the FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency, Maine State Police and Franklin County Sheriff’s Office as part of a federal investigation.
The High Street business, known as Narrow Gauge Distributors, is a 60,000-square-foot facility with a laboratory. The Wilton Road business is known as The Homegrown Connection. According to state information, Sirois is the registered agent of Narrow Gauge Distributors Inc. and The Homegrown Connection LLC.
Farmington Code Enforcement Officer J. Stevens Kaiser said Wednesday that police asked him Tuesday morning for a floor plan of the Narrow Gauge facility but not The Homegrown Connection, which advertises indoor and outdoor gardening supplies on its sign.
Other places around Farmington, including Today’s Herbal Care, on Front Street, previously associated with Sirois, who had a caregiver business going back to 2012, was also searched by federal and state law enforcement. A line of unmarked vehicles were seen behind the building Tuesday, and a U-Haul truck pulled out of that driveway and drove straight to Narrow Gauge Distributors.
Other businesses around the state were also visited by law enforcement Tuesday.
Sirois owns several businesses in the state. It was not clear if he is still associated with the caregiver business.
Sirois is president and founding board member of CG Biogenomics in Farmington, according to its website. It describes Sirois as “a serial entrepreneur,” who “has a firm grasp on the current and future trends in the medical and adult-use cannabis industry in both the state legal programs as well as the international cannabis scene.
“After doing undergraduate work in electrical implementation and design Mr. Sirois developed highly sought-after expertise predicated upon a decade-plus of cannabis cultivation experience in both large and small grow operations — from mom and pop small caregivers to 100,000-square-foot federal (DEA) facility design.
“As a facilities design expert, master grower and crop consultant he has worked extensively throughout the US and internationally while creating state-of-the-art facilities for his own companies, specifically Narrow Gauge Holdings LLC. His ability and innate knowledge of cannabis horticulture is second to none as his simple examination of a leaf or cannabis crop yield an encyclopedic knowledge known to a select few derived from ‘hands-on’ experience.”
Sirois was not available for comment Wednesday.
Information related to registered caregivers and caregiver retail stores operating within the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Program is confidential by state law, according to David Heidrich, spokesperson for the Maine Office of Marijuana Policy.
A similar confidentiality provision does not exist in the Adult Use Marijuana Program, Heidrich said.
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