BANGOR, Maine — Editorial note: The video attached to this story was originally posted Nov. 5, 2021.
A former Franklin County assistant district attorney faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court Tuesday to tampering with documents.
Kayla Alves, 36, of Farmington was charged along with former Franklin County and Oxford County deputies and others as part of an alleged conspiracy to illegally grow and sell marijuana at Narrow Gauge Distributors between 2016 and 2020.
Prosecutors say Alves' next door neighbor, Franklin County Sheriff's Deputy Bradley Scovil, left the sheriff's office to work for Lucas Sirois, the alleged head of the operation.
Scovil told Alves that he and Sirois, along with others, made and sold CBD products when Scovil actually worked for Sirois's illegal marijuana business, prosecutors say.
On April 8, 2020, Scovil sent Alves the following text message: "Would you know if I was being investigated by mdea or the state? I had someone follow me today from work, to the car wash, to the bank, and then back to work. It was a state vehicle because the plate didn't come back on file ..."
Alves responded, in part, "I wouldn’t have any idea if you’re being investigated, especially now since I’m working from home. If I hear anything I’ll let you know[.]”
On July 21, 2020, Alves admitted to the FBI that she informed Scovil of the federal investigation into Sirois, then deleted the text message from her cellphone "in order to frustrate the FBI's investigation into her misconduct," prosecutors wrote in a complaint.
Walter McKee, who represents Alves, said in a statement Wednesday that Alves was not part of the alleged conspiracy and was led to believe that Scovil's actions were "above board."
“Kayla pled guilty to what she did: she heard that Scovil, her neighbor, might be being investigated by ‘the feds’ and she told Scovil that. She realized quickly that she should not have even passed this along and deleted her text messages that said that," McKee said, in part.
Sirois, Scovil and the other defendants pleaded not guilty to federal charges in November 2021.