The first person to be charged federally for operating an illegal Chinese-controlled marijuana growing operation in Maine entered a guilty plea on Monday.
Xisen Guo, 68, of Brooklyn, N.Y., pleaded guilty to maintaining a drug involved premises in U.S. District Court in Bangor.
Guo was arrested in April 2024 after a search warrant was executed at 549 Main Rd. in Passadumkeag by the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.
The search of the property resulted in the seizure of 40 pounds of processed marijuana, several bags of cultivated marijuana plants, methamphetamine, and $4,700 cash.
While three men of Chinese descent were detained at the property, Guo was the only one arrested.
The property had been visited several times in 2023 by the Maine Wire as one of more than 250 suspected locations that were purchased by Chinese men and women with previous addresses in New York or Massachusetts since 2020.
At the Passadumkeag site, the detached garage and the home itself were equipped with multiple security cameras when the Maine Wire visited. Discarded litter related to marijuana growing, bags of soil and jugs of growth supplements could be seen around the property, and were documented by the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.
Guo, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from China, managed the Passadumkeag grow house from July 2020 to February 2024, court records show.
As part of his plea, Guo agreed to forfeit the $4,710 in cash seized during the search and to pay $20,000 in lieu of surrendering the Passadumkeag property.
Guo’s sentencing date is yet to be determined, but for the federal charge of maintaining a drug-involved premises he faces up to 20 years in prison, a $500,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
Released on bail shortly after his arrest, Guo may be able to relocate to Brooklyn pending state approval of his bail transfer. Guo has more stable housing in New York than in Maine, his attorney Stephen Sweatt said.
According to law enforcement records related to the search of Guo’s Passadumkeag property, an elderly Chinese man present during the search told law enforcement, through a translator, that Guo brought him to the location from New York against his will.
Guanshi Yani, described by the law enforcement translator as “basically illiterate,” told investigators he was tricked into getting into a vehicle with Guo and did not want to be in Maine.
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