BANGOR — A Farmington man pleaded guilty Monday in federal court for his role in an alleged illicit medical marijuana operation and money laundering scheme in Franklin County.
Ryan Nezol admitted to a charge of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances before Judge Lance Walker in U.S. District Court in Bangor. He is one of four codefendants to plead guilty since Thursday in a case that has brought 11 indictments.
Prosecutors said Nezol allegedly traded marijuana on the black market for more than 2.2 pounds of cocaine.
According to a plea agreement with U.S. attorneys, Nezol will spend no more than 46 months in prison. If the court sentences him to a longer prison time, he has the right to withdraw his guilty plea. He also agreed to not appeal the sentence if it stays as is.
In at least March of 2019, Nezol worked at multiple industrial marijuana cultivation facilities in Farmington, including the “Shoe Shop” at 374 High St., according to the prosecution’s version of events. The building formerly housed a shoe shop.
Nezol worked in the “lab” at the facility, developing various marijuana cloning methods, as well as methods of extracting marijuana distillate, which could then be manufactured into various finished marijuana products and allegedly sold by Lucas Sirois, who prosecutors say is the ringleader of the operation, and others on his behalf.
During his association with the Shoe Shop, Sirois’s operations were out of compliance with both Maine and…