FARMINGTON — A federal judge dismissed charges Wednesday in a 2021 indictment against a former Wilton police officer and a former Oxford County Sheriff’s deputy in connection with an illicit marijuana and money-laundering operation in Franklin County.
Former officer Kevin Lemay of Farmington and former deputy James McLamb of Auburn, who also once served as town manager in Dixfield, each requested dismissal of the charges against them.
The dismissals were granted by federal Judge Lance Walker.
The two were accused of running license plates of different vehicles at the request of two Franklin County deputies. They were also accused of using government databases, at the request of former Franklin County deputies Bradley Scovil and Derrick Doucette to confirm that those deputies were under surveillance by law enforcement.
Federal attorneys have alleged that Lucas Sirois was the ringleader in a $13 million illegal medical marijuana operation and that he used local law enforcement officers to monitor for possible police investigations of that operation.
According to court documents, the requests for dismissal were granted because neither the government nor the indictment demonstrated that Lemay and McLamb knew of or foresaw that there would be a future grand jury investigation into the marijuana operation, or that their actions would affect those proceedings, which is required for conviction of the document tampering charges they faced.
“Mr. Lemay is pleased that the court has granted his motion and dismissed the charges against him. He has always maintained that these charges were baseless,” his attorney, Stacey Neumann, of the law firm of Murray, Plumb & Murray in Portland, wrote in an email.
“From the outset, it has been our position that Mr. McLamb should not have been charged,” McLamb’s attorney Michael Turndorf of Turndorf Law in Portland wrote in an email. “This process has severely impacted Mr. McLamb’s life. I hope and trust that he can move on from this and lead a happy and productive life,”
The charges stemmed from a raid by Maine State Police officers and other law enforcement agents, including drug agents, in Farmington and other places in Franklin County on July 21, 2020. Among the places raided was a former shoe shop on High Street in Farmington. State police were seen hauling out dozens of marijuana plants and putting them in a container outside the shop.
After more than a year of investigation, 11 people were indicted by a federal grand jury on Nov. 9, 2021. Three businesses connected to Sirois were also indicted.
Lemay and McLamb were charged with tampering with documents. Both were employed as law enforcement officers when the alleged activity took place, according to court documents.
According to court records, it was alleged that Lemay “altered, destroyed, mutilated, and concealed electronic messages between himself” and Scovil and Doucette … “with the intent to impair (the messages) integrity and availability for use in an official proceeding,”
In McLamb’s case, it was alleged that he “altered, destroyed, mutilated, and concealed electronic messages between himself” and Doucette, also with the intent to impair the integrity and availability of those messages for use by a grand jury.
According to Walker’s order, McLamb and Lemay maintain that they cannot have violated (the law) because they were unaware of and did not foresee any official proceeding other than the law enforcement investigation.”
The order later goes on to say that “the government must demonstrate that the defendant knew of or foresaw an official proceeding and knew that his actions would affect it,” Walker wrote.
Arguing against the requests for dismissal, prosecutors urged the court to put the question of whether the defendants knew there would be an official grand jury proceeding to a trial jury to resolve. But Walker disagreed, finding the indictment was flawed.
Contacted by the Sun Journal, Jana Spaulding, public information and community outreach contractor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is reviewing the judge’s decision and will decide how to proceed going forward.”
In June, as part of plea agreements, Doucette and Scovil pleaded guilty in a federal court to conspiracy to defraud and deprive residents of Franklin County of their “right to the defendants’ honest and faithful services through bribery.” They await sentencing.
Scovil and Doucette allegedly conspired from at least June 2019 to July 21, 2020 with each other and with the owner/operator of multiple industrial marijuana cultivation facilities in Farmington,” according to federal prosecutors, failing in their duties as police officers.
Other co-defendants in the case are Lucas Sirois of Rangeley; his estranged wife, Alisa Sirois of Kingfield; his father, Robert Sirois of Farmington; former Rangeley Selectman David Burgess of Rangeley; Brandon Dagnese of Scarborough; Kenneth Allen, a tax preparer, and Ryan Nezol of Farmington.
Burgess pleaded guilty in June to charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, which is a charge involving bribery or kickbacks, and conspiracy to defraud the United States and “impede and impair” the Internal Revenue Service, which means Burgess conspired with others to commit tax evasion or refund fraud.
Kayla Alves, a former Franklin County assistant district attorney who was not included in the original indictments, was tied to the illegal marijuana operation and sentenced to two years of probation and fined $2,000 in exchange for a guilty plea on a charge of tampering with communications between herself and Scovil. She recently had her license to practice law reinstated.
Randal Cousineau of Farmington, who was allegedly the primary financier of the ring’s operation, held a half interest in Narrow Gauge Distributors on High Street, which investigators say was the grow operation providing much of the marijuana. In 2021, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess and distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana and 1,000 marijuana plants. He is awaiting sentencing.
And, Dagnese and Nezol have also each pleaded guilty.
Allen and the Siroises’ have pleaded not guilty and their cases are ongoing.
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