Monroe Man Sentenced to 10 years for Firearm and Drug Convictions

Contact: Andrew McCormack
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 945-0373

Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that James
F. Ford, 59, of Monroe, was sentenced in U.S. District Court by Chief Judge John A.
Woodcock, Jr. to 10 years in prison, to be followed by 8 years of supervised release for
conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, manufacturing marijuana, maintaining a drug involved
premises, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Ford was found guilty after a jury trial on
November 21, 2013.

Court proceedings revealed that in November 2011 a search warrant was executed at the
defendant’s home in Monroe where agents found a large and sophisticated indoor marijuana
growing operation and two rifles. Trial evidence revealed that the defendant and other family
members conspired to grow hundreds of marijuana plants at the residence. The defendant, a
convicted felon, also illegally possessed the two rifles found at the residence.

The investigation was conducted by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Bureau of
Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office and the Maine State Police.