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Firefighter resigns after pot stash is found in home

E-mail|Link|Comments () May 30, 2009 04:09 PM

By Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff

A Boston firefighter resigned today, one day after federal drug agents seized 131 marijuana plants from his Maine home, officials said.

Sean Berte, an eight-year veteran of the department, turned in his badge, gear, and identification card today. "He turned in his things and he was gone," Steve MacDonald, the fire department spokesman, said this afternoon.

MacDonald would not comment further on Berte's resignation. "It's a law enforcement issue now," MacDonald said. "He doesn't work for us anymore."

Berte joined the department in August 2001. He was assigned to Tower Ladder 17 in Park Square, MacDonald said.

Agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration on Friday seized $700,000 worth of marijuana and cultivating equipment from Berte's home in Bridgton. Berte, 31, was called a "person of interest" by police.

Berte's father-in-law, Michael Domenici, 60, of Rehoboth, Mass. was at the home at 2 p.m. Friday, when Bridgton Police and DEA officials arrived with a seaach warrant, according to Bridgton police.

"He was a little shocked that we were there," Officer Donald McCormack said Saturday afternoon.

Domenici was charged with cultivation of marijuana, a felony, and was held overnight at the Cumberland County jail. He posted $2,540 bail Saturday afternoon and was released, a jail spokesman said.

Neither Berte nor Domenici immediately returned calls seeking comment.