Marijuana grow-house probe goes up in smoke

Scene of the June fire at 147 Champion St. in Lebanon.

LEBANON - The Maine DEA agent investigating an alleged pot-growing operation at the Lebanon house burned in an arson fire in June said no arrests have been made in the case, but if there were, the most the individual would be charged with is a misdemeanor.

There may have been 20 marijuana plants growing before the blaze, but lawmen were only able to secure three or four as evidence, said York County DEA agent Sgt. Peter Mador.

“If we were to make a charge, it’s based on how many plants,” Mador said. “If we were to file a charge it would be misdemeanor cultivation.”

Mador said they hadn’t forwarded the case to the district attorney’s office, but even if the person who was growing the marijuana was found guilty, there wouldn’t be any jail time, just a fine.

The individual who lived at the house admitted to police that there were marijuana plants present in the house, Mador said.

Mador said soon after the investigation began there were at least 20 marijuana plants growing before the blaze and that the operation had many similarities with what have come to be known as “grow houses,” homes in York County and other parts of the country used specifically to produce pot.

The house was equipped with special growing lights and a generator to guard against power outages that might endanger the plants’ growth potential.

The fire at 147 Champion St. was intentionally set in the early hours of June 22, fire investigators have said.

The name of the renter has not been released, but the owner of the property is listed at Lebanon Town Hall as Kalani McDaniel of Massachusetts.

Tommy Ellis, an Exeter, N.H., man with ties to Milton, is charged with arson in the case.

He was arrested on Saturday by Epping Police on a fugitive from justice warrant and will be arraigned in Rockingham County Superior Court on Thursday.

If he waives extradition to Maine he’ll be turned over to Maine authorities to face the arson charge.

Ellis, who is in his late 20s, lived in Milton for a while and is said to have been a transient in the past, with no specified home address.

State Fire Marshal’s Office investigator Daniel Young said earlier this week that Ellis and the person who rented the house knew each other, but wouldn’t speculate on a motive.