MONROE - The sign on the basement door, behind which lay an allegedly vast mushroom growing operation, read "Dave's Lair" and warned that others "shall not pass."
That sign, and other information from testimony in Green County Circuit Court Tuesday, July 31, was used to back up a request to dismiss charges against one of three defendants accused of colluding in a major growing operation of hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms in a rental house in New Glarus.
Judge James Beer denied the request.
Brandon K. Satterstrom, 26, Madison, still faces three felony charges, as a party to a crime, of manufacturing/delivering psilocin (the chemical compound in psilocybin mushrooms), possessing psilocin, maintaining a drug-trafficking place and a misdemeanor charge of possessing drug paraphernalia.
David Raymond Warner, 23, Madison, and William Tyler Wilson, 19, New Glarus, face the same charges and already appeared for preliminary hearings in late June.
Charges were filed against the three men in mid June, after police searched a home in the 1100 block of 7th Street and reported discovering a vast growing operation in the basement. Officers seized 1,072 Mason jars, 97 syringes, 67 plastic growing trays, about 700 pounds of mushroom substrate and various mushroom-growing paraphernalia.
Also seized were about 2,500 grams, or five and a half pounds, of psilocybin mushrooms.
Warner, Wilson and Satterstrom signed a lease on a home in November.
The owner of the home, Linda Klitzke, testified she met with Wilson and Satterstrom in mid-November to give them the keys and take their money order for the security deposit.
She said she didn't do a background check on them but her son told her he got a good impression when he showed them the house and she thought they seemed like "nice boys."
She and her son, Derek Klitzke, testified they didn't hear any neighbors' complaints about the tenants or of anything suspicious going on at the home.
On a Sunday in June, the Klitzkes stopped by to check on the furnace and trim the hedges. Linda Klitzke said she talked with Satterstrom earlier in the day and he told her he wouldn't be around but offered to trim the hedges for her. She declined his offer.
When Klitzke walked into the home, she was "shocked."
"It didn't appear lived in," she said. The house was bare of furniture except for a couple of chairs and a mattress. In the refrigerator, she found only a jug of milk and a bag of syringes filled with a clear liquid.
"It was alarming to see so many (syringes). There wasn't really any food in there," she said.
A closet and the door to the basement were locked, with a sign identifying the basement as "Dave's Lair."
Derek Klitzke contacted police that evening with his and his mother's suspicions of drug activity in the house.
Satterstrom's lawyer, Charles Giesen, argued the charges were flimsy.
"When and where did Mr. Satterstrom do anything?" he demanded, adding, "I shudder to think that any lessee be held accountable to any illegal activity in the home."
The warning sign on the basement door further proved that Satterstrom had no knowledge or even access to the drug operation, Giesen said.
Under cross-examination, Jeff Sturdevant, a sergeant with the New Glarus Police Department, said officers found no documents in the home, such as bills or mail, with Satterstrom's name on them.
District Gary Luhman maintained the evidence still demonstrated the house was being used to grow psilocybin mushrooms.
After hearing testimony, Beer ruled there is sufficient evidence to move the case forward.
"It may not be the strongest case by the state," he said, but he added that "it is probable that a felony has occurred."
Satterstrom's arraignment is scheduled Aug. 21.
Warner's next court appearance is Aug. 7, and Wilson has two court proceedings scheduled in September.
That sign, and other information from testimony in Green County Circuit Court Tuesday, July 31, was used to back up a request to dismiss charges against one of three defendants accused of colluding in a major growing operation of hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms in a rental house in New Glarus.
Judge James Beer denied the request.
Brandon K. Satterstrom, 26, Madison, still faces three felony charges, as a party to a crime, of manufacturing/delivering psilocin (the chemical compound in psilocybin mushrooms), possessing psilocin, maintaining a drug-trafficking place and a misdemeanor charge of possessing drug paraphernalia.
David Raymond Warner, 23, Madison, and William Tyler Wilson, 19, New Glarus, face the same charges and already appeared for preliminary hearings in late June.
Charges were filed against the three men in mid June, after police searched a home in the 1100 block of 7th Street and reported discovering a vast growing operation in the basement. Officers seized 1,072 Mason jars, 97 syringes, 67 plastic growing trays, about 700 pounds of mushroom substrate and various mushroom-growing paraphernalia.
Also seized were about 2,500 grams, or five and a half pounds, of psilocybin mushrooms.
Warner, Wilson and Satterstrom signed a lease on a home in November.
The owner of the home, Linda Klitzke, testified she met with Wilson and Satterstrom in mid-November to give them the keys and take their money order for the security deposit.
She said she didn't do a background check on them but her son told her he got a good impression when he showed them the house and she thought they seemed like "nice boys."
She and her son, Derek Klitzke, testified they didn't hear any neighbors' complaints about the tenants or of anything suspicious going on at the home.
On a Sunday in June, the Klitzkes stopped by to check on the furnace and trim the hedges. Linda Klitzke said she talked with Satterstrom earlier in the day and he told her he wouldn't be around but offered to trim the hedges for her. She declined his offer.
When Klitzke walked into the home, she was "shocked."
"It didn't appear lived in," she said. The house was bare of furniture except for a couple of chairs and a mattress. In the refrigerator, she found only a jug of milk and a bag of syringes filled with a clear liquid.
"It was alarming to see so many (syringes). There wasn't really any food in there," she said.
A closet and the door to the basement were locked, with a sign identifying the basement as "Dave's Lair."
Derek Klitzke contacted police that evening with his and his mother's suspicions of drug activity in the house.
Satterstrom's lawyer, Charles Giesen, argued the charges were flimsy.
"When and where did Mr. Satterstrom do anything?" he demanded, adding, "I shudder to think that any lessee be held accountable to any illegal activity in the home."
The warning sign on the basement door further proved that Satterstrom had no knowledge or even access to the drug operation, Giesen said.
Under cross-examination, Jeff Sturdevant, a sergeant with the New Glarus Police Department, said officers found no documents in the home, such as bills or mail, with Satterstrom's name on them.
District Gary Luhman maintained the evidence still demonstrated the house was being used to grow psilocybin mushrooms.
After hearing testimony, Beer ruled there is sufficient evidence to move the case forward.
"It may not be the strongest case by the state," he said, but he added that "it is probable that a felony has occurred."
Satterstrom's arraignment is scheduled Aug. 21.
Warner's next court appearance is Aug. 7, and Wilson has two court proceedings scheduled in September.