The first person federally charged in Maine for running an illegal marijuana grow house pleaded guilty in court Monday.
Xisen Guo, 68, pleaded guilty to maintaining a drug involved premises in U.S. District Court of Maine in Bangor. He was arrested in April for operating an illegal marijuana grow house at 549 Main St. in Passadumkeag.
Judge John Woodcock accepted Guo’s guilty plea through a Cantonese interpreter after he waived his right to be indicted by a grand jury.
There are “well below” 100 illegal marijuana grow houses left in Maine, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Lizotte said previously. Law enforcement started cracking down on the homes in early 2024, with at least 13 people facing criminal charges in state and federal court.
Guo, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, maintained the illegal marijuana grow house from July 2020 to February 2024. The electricity use at the grow house went from about $300 a month to $9,000 after an LLC, of which Guo was an authorized agent, bought the house. He also was the person billed by Versant Power.
As part of the guilty plea, Guo consented to the forfeiture to the federal government of $4,710 in cash that was found at the property when police executed a search warrant, and $20,000 in lieu of the Pasadumkeag property.
Guo was granted bail shortly after his arrest and will remain out until his sentencing, which is not yet scheduled. His bail will be transferred to New York, if the state accepts the transfer. Guo is from Brooklyn and has more stable housing there than in Maine, his attorney Stephen Sweatt said.
The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine up to $500,000, as well as up to three years of supervised release following the prison sentence.
