Pot plants, luxury cars seized in Lewiston-Auburn raids. Maine

Portland Press Herald ^ | 2/27/2018 | CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS

[Steven Scharf]

 

COPS & COURTS

LEWISTON — A Lewiston man was charged with marijuana trafficking and manufacturing butane hash oil following a series of raids by state and federal law enforcement officers in Lewiston and Auburn on Tuesday morning.

Richard “Stitch” Daniels, 52, was charged in U.S. District Court in a criminal complaint that alleges a drug trafficking organization in Lewiston-Auburn grew and distributed large quantities of marijuana under the cover of Maine’s medical marijuana program, but sold marijuana to buyers who were not participants in the program and included out-of-state customers.

The enforcement action involving marijuana is the third in less than two months by U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank, whose boss, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions repealed an Obama administration policy that said the federal government would not pursue marijuana possession cases in most circumstances.

. . .

Early in January, Frank had responded to questions about whether his office would change its approach to enforcing federal laws against marijuana possession and use by saying that while such cases have not been a priority, he couldn’t say that would continue.

. . .

Frank said in January that growing, distributing and possessing marijuana is illegal under federal law and “my job is to enforce federal law, not countermand it.”

. . .

At the home on Danville Corner Road, officers could be seen prepping multiple cars for towing, including a Lamborghini Huracan, valued at close to $200,000, and a late-model Nissan GT-R, valued at about $175,000

[Steven Scharf]

Although med marijuana is legal a In Maine and eventually recreational mj, large scale production is still illegal. Our new US Attorney for Maine, Halsey Frank is a friend of mine and will be speaking tomorrow at a monthly luncheon I host.

This article says the Nissan GT-R is a $175,000 car, someone at the paper apparently realized that no Nissan is worth that and called it a $60,000 car in today's article.

The various law enforcement agencies will share the proceeds of this raid.

[gaijin]

They’ll use the liquidated proceeds for...

Training
Ammo
Uniforms
gasoline

Right..? WRONG:

It’s always for unusual, stupid stuff cops don’t use in the course of their jobs:

Coffee machine
Food
Workout equipment

Basically luxuries that would never be covered by a legit budget.

Busts like this are WAAAAY more interesting than overseeing a school massacre cuz they GAIN MATERIALLY.

And Jeff Sessions approves HUGELY.

[gaijin]

Let’s look at how civicl forfeiture funds were used for Iowa City in 2011:

$1,648 on a McGruff mascot costume
$51,592 on a Mancom Turning Target System
$9,987.50 on duty holsters
$857 on an icemaker for their breakroom

This example was WAAAY more legit than usual; most of that stuff actually helps cop duty. I just pasted that in here cuz it was easy to find.

With a little more looking you could find some really stupid, crazy stuff; soft-serve ice-cream machine, etc.

[BipolarBob]

With a little more looking you could find some really stupid, crazy stuff; soft-serve ice-cream machine, etc.

What?? No donut making machine? I guess if you free ones why bother.