Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Malcolm
French, 52, of Enfield; Rodney Russell, 50, of South Thomaston; Kendall Chase, 57, of
Bradford; and Haynes Timberland, Inc., a Maine corporation, were found guilty on Friday
evening by a federal jury sitting in Bangor of federal offenses arising out of the Sept. 22,
2009 seizure of 2,943 marijuana plants in Township 37, Washington County. French, Russell
and Chase were found guilty of conspiracy to manufacture over 1000 marijuana plants. French
and Russell were found guilty of manufacturing over 1,000 marijuana plants. French, Russell and
Haynes Timberland, Inc. were found guilty of managing and controlling property used to
manufacture marijuana. French and Russell were found guilty of harboring illegal aliens. The
jury also determined that French’s interest in Haynes Timberland, Inc., Township 37, a
warehouse compound in Township 31, and a hunting camp in LaGrange facilitated the drug
offenses.
French and Russell face from 10 years to life in prison and a $10,000,000 fine on the
conspiracy and manufacturing charges; Chase faces up to life in prison and a $10,000,000 fine
on the conspiracy charge; French and Russell face up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine
for managing and controlling property used to manufacture marijuana; and French and Russell
face up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for harboring illegal aliens. French and Haynes
Timberland, Inc. also face the forfeiture of their property that facilitated the crimes. The
defendants will be sentenced after completion of a pre-sentence investigation report by the U.S.
Probation Office.
The case was investigated by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Internal Revenue
Service-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of
Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
