Two former Franklin County deputy sheriffs pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to charges related to their roles in an alleged conspiracy to sell medical marijuana illegally.
Derrick Doucette, 31, and Bradley Scovil, 34, both of Rangeley admitted that they tipped ringleader Lucas Sirois, 43, of Farmington to a federal investigation into his alleged illegal marijuana operation.
Sirois has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges.
In exchange for the information, the former deputies received a promise of partial ownership in Narrow Gauge Distributors, a Maine limited liability corporation that cultivated and distributed marijuana, as well as annual salaries, the use of company cars, and other benefits, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
In their plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Doucette and Scovil waived their right to appeal their cases to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston if the sentences are no longer than four years and nine months.
Their sentencing dates have not been set.
Both defense attorneys and the federal prosecutor declined to comment on the cases. It is the practice of the U.S. Attorney’s office not to comment on pending cases.
Doucette and Scovil are two of more than a dozen defendants charged in connection with an alleged $13 million marijuana operation in western Maine in which prosecutors say Sirois sold medical marijuana out of state and in Maine on the black market.
Former Rangeley selectman David Burgess, 55, of Rangeley is scheduled to plead guilty Thursday afternoon to accepting cash payments from Sirois in exchange for advocating for his agenda to selectmen, including a vote to advance a marijuana ordinance Sirois had drafted as a town referendum.
Ryan Nezol, 38, of Farmington, who prosecutors say helped Sirois launder illicit marijuana profits through a complex corporate structure, is set to enter a guilty plea Monday.
Doucette and Scovil each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. The crime is defined as a scheme to defraud another of the intangible right to honest services through a scheme to violate a fiduciary duty by bribery or kickbacks. A fiduciary duty is a duty to act only for the benefit of the public, an employer, shareholders or a union, the statute says.
In exchange for their pleas, charges of conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess marijuana and bank fraud will be dismissed at their sentencings.
Also charged in the case was former prosecutor Kayla Alves, 38, of Farmington. She deleted text messages that showed she alerted Scovil, a neighbor, that federal authorities were investigating him and Doucette for their roles in the drug conspiracy, according to federal prosecutors.
Alves pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with documents as part of a plea agreement in March 2022. She was sentenced last August to two years of probation and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine.
A hearing on Sirois’ motion to dismiss charges pending against him and other defendants will be heard next week before U.S. District Judge Lance Walker.