WASHINGTON — Maine Drug Enforcement agents arrested a Worcester, Mass., man Sunday afternoon in Washington and charged him one count of cultivation of marijuana.

DEA Senior Special Agent James Pease said that 28-year-old Hieth Chann had taken up residence in an abandoned house off Calderwood Road, and allegedly set it up to just grow marijuana.

"He had made a small sleeping quarters, but then was growing marijuana inside and outside," said Pease. "We seized 88 marijuana plants in various stages of growth."

Pease said it appeared Chann was growing and harvesting the marijuana to bring back to Massachusetts to sell, not to sell in Maine.

Pease said Maine homegrown marijuana sells for between $2,500 and $3,000 per pound in Massachusetts, and agents seized 10-15 pounds of marijuana from Chann Sunday afternoon.

"Once it was dried and weighed, he would have yielded about that much," said Pease.

When asked if Chann had connections to the area, Pease said it was possible he learned about the house from a friend.

"It may be that a friend of a friend told him what they heard, but more or less, he learned about the abandoned house from somewhere indirectly and then came up and used it as a hideout for what he was doing," said Pease.

Knox County Sheriff's deputies and Maine wardens assisted DEA agents in the search of the house, which occurred around 3:30 p.m. Sept. 23, said Pease.