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Man Charged with Illegally Diverting Medical Pot

January 17, 2011 - OLD ORCHARD BEACH — A New York man, who moved to Old Orchard Beach and started growing medical marijuana, was charged with illegally distributing marijuana in Maine and New York, police said.

York County Sheriff's deputies and Old Orchard Beach police charged Bryan P. Branciforte, 29, of 2 Mill Brook Drive Saturday with aggravated cultivating marijuana and released him from York County Jail on $5,000 bail.

Investigators say information provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration led to the arrest, which happened as police raided the house early Saturday.

Inside they found 201 marijuana plans, three pounds of processed marijuana, steroids, $1,000 and a 12-gauge shotgun, police said.


A release from the sheriff's office says Branciforte moved to Maine after medical marijuana was legalized and he obtained a care giver's license, enabling him to grow marijuana on behalf of someone who is prescribed it for an illness. But police, who released photographs of an extensive indoor growing operation, say he took advantage of that illness.

David Hench, Portland Press Herald, January 14, 2011


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