Congrats to Attorney Stephen Sweatt on this case result, involving over 40 pounds of marijuana. No jail for our client!

From the Portland Press Herald:

NY man sentenced for running massive illegal marijuana grow in Penobscot County

pressherald.com/2026/07/21/ny-man-sentenced-for-running-massive-illegal-marijuana-grow-in-penobscot-county

July 21, 2026

Marijuana plants found recently in an illegal grow operation in the Whitefield area. (Photo courtesy of Lincoln County Sheriff's Office)

A New York man was sentenced Monday for owning and operating an industrial-scale illicit marijuana grow in Passadumkeag that prosecutors say was one of several hundred black market Chinese-run marijuana grows across Maine.

Xisen Guo, 68, pleaded guilty in January to maintaining drug involved premises at 549 Main Road in this rural Penobscot County town. He was sentenced to time served and one year of supervised release by U.S. District Judge John Woodcock Jr.

“Guo admitted that, for a time, he had rented the property to a person who grew marijuana and that he had eventually taken over the growing activity himself,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine said in a statement.

Guo and another man, Xianmin Chen, founded an LLC to purchase the property in early 2020, according to prosecutors. The two-story house and two large detached garages were converted into marijuana growing and processing facilities shortly after.

The property was searched by Penobscot County sheriffs, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations in February 2024. Guo was arrested and police found some 40 pounds of processed cannabis and more than $4,700 in cash inside.

Marijuana was grown at the property with the toxic fungicide Eagle-20, prosecutors allege, which releases cyanide gas when ignited and inhaled.

Guo was the first person to face federal charges for their involvement with the hundreds of suspected illicit cannabis grow houses across Maine allegedly run by Chinese organized crime groups.

Stephen Sweatt, Guo’s attorney, wrote in court filings that he “did not come to Maine with the intent to grow marijuana,” but rather sought to renovate the house and resell it for a profit.

Guo’s Passadumkeag property was refurbished and put back up for sale within months of the search warrant’s execution, according to public real estate listings. It sold for $200,000, nearly $90,000 more than what Guo paid.

It was listed by Lewiston-based real estate agent Yuli “Lily” Huang, who has put more than two dozen suspected illegal grow houses on the market since law enforcement began cracking down on them in early 2024.

Guo initially rented the property out to Siu Long Ham, a man who Sweatt said paid rent in marijuana and convinced Guo to begin growing cannabis together.

“Xisen was under the impression that growing marijuana was legal in the State of Maine as long as they filed specific paperwork with the State,” Sweatt wrote in a court filing.

More than 100 alleged Chinese-run grow houses have obtained medical cannabis growing licenses from the state in the years following the first police raids of such operations in late 2023.

Ham allegedly told Guo he had filed the correct paperwork to grow medically, but never did.

“Unfortunately, this did not deter (Guo) from continuing the grow operation,” Sweatt’s filing continued. “(Guo) then sought out the assistance of other members of the Chinese community to assist him in cultivating marijuana.”