BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 11, 2020
Malcolm French, 58, of Enfield and Rodney Russell, 56, of South Thomaston were released from federal prison April 1 on $5,000 unsecured bail after their attorneys successfully argued both inmates had underlying health issues that made them more susceptible to COVID-19 because of poor social distancing protocols in prisons and jails. In 2014, a jury convicted the men of operating an illegal pot plantation from which the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency seized 2,943 mature marijuana plants. The farm was discovered on Sept. 22, 2009 in a 10-acre swamp on 22,000 acres of land in Township 37 owned by Haynes Timberland Inc. French was part owner of the company.