The most aggressive sheriff in Maine notched another victory in Maine’s ongoing fight against Chinese organized crime Tuesday, executing a search warrant at a residential building on South Road the resulted in two arrests and the seizure of massive quantity of black market marijuana.
Law enforcement officials seized more than 1,400 marijuana plants, 100 pounds of processed cannabis and a firearm during a Tuesday raid on a property in Harmony, Somerset County, in what authorities described as a large-scale illegal cultivation operation.
The law enforcement operation, which included federal and state agencies, resulted in the arrests of two men described as being from Massachusetts.
Wenfeng Chen, 51, of Malden, and Xinwen Zhang, 71, of Boston, were each charged with Class B felonies for unlawful cultivation of marijuana and drug trafficking, the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities executed a search warrant at approximately 9 a.m. on South Road after an investigation revealed the site was allegedly being used for unauthorized marijuana production. The majority of the interior of the residence was being utilized for growing and processing cannabis, Sheriff Dale Lancaster said.
“The property was clearly outfitted for large-scale cultivation,” Sheriff Lancaster said in a statement. “This operation represents the ongoing and growing concern of illegal marijuana trafficking networks using rural Maine towns for their activities.”
The multi-agency raid included five detectives and three patrol deputies from the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, agents from the U.S. Border Patrol, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, as well as personnel from the Waterville Police Department and Maine’s Office of Cannabis Policy.
The Somerset Sheriff’s press release does not list the Maine State Police (MSP) or the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) among the law enforcement agencies assisting with the effort, as has been the pattern since other law enforcement agencies in Maine began cracking down on Chinese organized crime.
Since the fall of 2023, when a leaked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo revealed the existence of a sprawling network of Chinese cannabis trafficking hubs in rural Maine, Gov. Janet Mills (D) has yet to address the foreign criminal conspiracy publicly—with the exception of a single vague line during her recent “state of the budget” speech about “illicit grows.”
Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck, the head of the MSP and MDEA, and an appointee of Gov. Mills, has yet to comment publicly about the more than 270 black market drug trafficking sites operated in Maine by what the Department of Homeland Security has referred to as Asian transnational criminal organizations.
Neither Mills nor Sauschuck have commented on the revelation, first reported by the Maine Wire, that the governor’s brother, attorney Paul Mills, has assisted at least one illegal cannabis growing operation by helping to transfer a property in Corinna to the ownership of a Chinese national living in China.
During the search Tuesday, officials seized 1,405 marijuana plants, approximately 100 pounds of processed marijuana, a 9mm pistol with ammunition, $1,600 in suspected drug proceeds, a 2017 Toyota Sienna van, and other drug-related materials.
Both Chen and Zhang had their bail set at $10,000 cash. Their initial court appearances are scheduled for July 9 at the Somerset County Unified Criminal Court.
This property was previously raided in May 2024, when law enforcement discovered more than 1,200 marijuana plants and 25 pounds of processed marijuana, though no suspects were present at the time. Sheriff Lancaster said additional charges may be filed against Chen, Zhang and others following review by the Somerset County District Attorney and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The property, located at 212 South Road in Harmony, was purchased for cash by Nai Wen Zhao, who, at the time the warranty deed was notarized, provided an address of 18 Roland Avenue in Lewiston.
Nai W. Zhao and Yan C. Zhao also happen to own another property in Somerset County — this one at 369 Ripley Road in Cambridge. Zhao and Zhao purchased that property for $124,000 using a mortgage in Jan. 29, 2021.
Since January 2024, the Sheriff’s Criminal Division has executed 24 search warrants related to suspected illegal marijuana operations across several towns in Somerset County. Fifteen individuals from states including Maine, New York, Massachusetts, California, and Washington have been arrested so far.
In total, law enforcement has seized approximately 30,000 marijuana plants, 500 pounds of processed cannabis, $51,000 in cash, and six motor vehicles in connection with the broader investigation, the sheriff’s office said.
No comment from Mills, MDEA and the staties, I wonder whats on that property in Salem and if the chinese kickbacks are coming through Peter Mills and company ???
Every governor in New England has been captured by the Chinese criminal cartels military operation to poison, weaken and eliminate the American citizens. Wake up you greedy fraudster$
and invest in the deporting of these criminal thugs and protect Maine citizen’s human rights. Bravo to the toxic masculinity in the Somerset County Sheriff’s Dept. Boo on Janet and her sicko minions for going along to get along with the$e thug$ to the detriment of Americans.
This is what happens when you wrongly legalize cannabis! You invite crime and keep your citizens dumb!
Hat off to Sheriff Dale Lancaster.
What has the past growers done with their bale and court dates.
Maybe these folks should go to jail in central America!
Cash crop = cash bribes. I hope they can follow the money. Pray for Maine.
having a gun to protect your drug operation is usually another charge… why are we soft balling these criminals??
they finaly took the toyota van? guess i will have to keep my eyes open to see what they are driving next… i’ve seen it at multiple grows in penobscot county… apart from grow houses.. the van would sit for 4-6 hours couple days a week…tucked behind a storage unit…. storage unit door opened just 1/5 of the way…. coincidentally… state police will sit at the entrance of the storage unit looking for “speeders”…… i wonder how many grows have state police busted?
No comment from Fürhrer Mills.
She’s busy calculating what her bribe cut was lost! I guarantee she isn’t happy!