MONROE — An Albany man in federal prison for his role in a large meth-dealing operation was sentenced recently as part of a separate, local drug case.
Christopher H. Stevens, 37, pleaded guilty Jan. 17 in Green County Circuit Court to a Class I felony charge of maintaining a drug-trafficking place, modified as a second or subsequent offense and a party to a crime. A felony charge of possessing psilocybin (psychedelic mushrooms) and misdemeanor charge of possessing drug paraphernalia were dismissed as part of a plea deal.
Judge Thomas Vale imposed and stayed a sentence of two years in prison and two years on extended supervision, concurrent to Stevens’ six-year federal sentence from last year.
The case stems from a June 2017 search warrant on his former Albany home at 105 N. Jackson Street that turned up psychedelic mushrooms growing in the basement, handwritten notes on growing mushrooms and a notebook with usernames and passwords that “appeared to be connected to the dark web,” along with numerous items of drug paraphernalia like pipes and dining spoons with burn marks and white residue, according to police reports.
The dark web is a part of the World Wide Web not indexed by search engines and only accessible through special networks, making it ideal for anonymous illegal drug transactions.
Neighbors told police the house got frequent visits from people who stayed only five minutes.
Stevens’ then-girlfriend and the owner of the house, 26-year-old Karmen Elisabeth Marshall, was also charged. She has since pleaded no contest and is serving three years on probation with a conditional nine months in jail.
At her sentencing last June, defense attorney Robert Ruth said Marshall wasn’t a “mover and shaker” in drug trafficking but a depressed, unhappy woman who developed a drug addiction and let Stevens take advantage of her.
She paid the bills while Stevens lived with her, he said.
“And how did he repay her? He ran a drug operation,” Ruth told the court, adding that Marshall received little financial gain from the operation.
Stevens has a history of narcotics-related convictions in Green County going back more than a decade. He is currently incarcerated at a federal prison in Oxford for his role in a meth operation involving at least 10 other people.
At his sentencing in federal court in January 2018, Judge William M. Conley described Stevens as having played a smaller role as a local distributor only. However, Stevens’ involvement was “in connection with a larger methamphetamine conspiracy operation that was responsible for numerous pounds of methamphetamine shipped from California to Wisconsin,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Wisconsin.