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A man from Brooklyn, New York, will not spend any more time in jail after admitting to maintaining and eventually running an illegal marijuana growing operation in Passadumkeag.
Xisen Guo, 68, was sentenced on Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to time served and one year of supervised release for maintaining a drug-involved premises. Guo pleaded guilty on January 13, 2025. Court records show he got a Maine driver's license in July of 2020. Court records also show Guo had a Chinese passport.
According to court records, Guo operated a marijuana grow at a home at 549 Main Road in Passadumkeag.
Court records show someone submitted an anonymous complaint to the Penobscot County Sheriff's Office tip line on Feb. 1, 2024, about an illegal marijuana grow at the home. That same day, police received a video from a confidential source showing three men burning items in the backyard of the home.
A week later, when police drove by the home, they noticed that the windows of the home and garage were covered with cardboard, similar to other homes where marijuana is illegally grown. Police say they also walked to within about 50 feet of the home, remaining on the public way, and could smell marijuana.
When the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department, Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed a state search warrant at the home in February 2024, they seized approximately 40 pounds of processed marijuana, $4,710 in cash, and evidence of marijuana cultivation.
When police spoke with Guo at the scene after arresting him, investigators say he 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. Court documents show that most statements made by Guo were translated through a remote Chinese translation service using a cell phone.
As the investigation progressed, officials learned that Guo had acquired the property through a limited liability company, GC 168 Realty LLC, that was formed in December of 2019, and then used and maintained the residence for the purpose of growing and distributing marijuana between July 1, 2020 and February 22, 2024.
Court records show the home was bought for $115,000 and that it was paid for with a check for $110,000, $1,000 in cash and then four money orders.
Court records also show there was no license issued by the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy for the legal cultivation of marijuana at the property.
Prosecutors say Guo paid the electrical utilities and property taxes on the property as well as buying equipment and materials used to grow marijuana at the property.
According to court records, the property used between 6,000 and 10,000 kWh of power each month between August 2020 and November 2023, with monthly bills ranging from $1,000 to $2,700.
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