WATERVILLE — A Waterville man faces aggravated drug charges after police reported seizing marijuana with a street value of about $2,000 Thursday.

Twenty marijuana plants, drying marijuana and more than 5 ounces of the processed drug were found in Jared Bouchard’s apartment at 82 Silver St., said Waterville police Deputy Chief Charles Rumsey.

The plants were at various stages of growth, Rumsey said. He estimated all the marijuana seized Thursday would amount to a bit more than a pound of the processed drug.

Scales, packaging materials and a small amount of cash were also found during the search, Rumsey said.

Bouchard, 29, faces two class C felony charges — aggravated cultivation of marijuana and aggravated trafficking in schedule Z drugs.

The charges are aggravated, said Rumsey, because Bouchard’s apartment is within 1,000 feet of a designated zone — Maine Children’s Home of Little Wanderers.

Each class C felony is punishable up to five years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine.

Bouchard also was charged with violating condition of release; he was on bail for a charge of operating after suspension. And he was summoned for possession of drug paraphernalia. Bouchard’s bail was set at $500 cash.

Rumsey said Bouchard did not post the $500 cash bail and was taken to Kennebec County Jail in Augusta. His court date was set for June 12 in Kennebec County Superior Court.

Waterville police Detective Lincoln Ryder and Officer Duane Cloutier, a Waterville officer assigned to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, developed information which led Ryder to obtaining the search warrant.

The odor of marijuana was pungent Thursday morning in the Waterville Police Department, which has an unventilated evidence room where the drug will be kept until the case is closed in court.

“It stinks, literally and figuratively,” Rumsey said.

Beth Staples — 861-9252

[email protected]