MONROE — Four people face drug charges filed this week in Green County Circuit Court after unrelated investigations by the Stateline Area Narcotics Team (SLANT).
The first case relates to alleged methamphetamine manufacture and dealing at a Jeffery Road residence in rural Monroe.
Two residents of the home are charged.
Jeremy Williams Herbst, 49, faces 14 felonies and two misdemeanors alleging possession of meth, meth precursors, drug paraphernalia, THC and illegally obtained prescription pills, possession of a firearm as a felon, bail jumping and maintaining a drug trafficking place. A warrant was issued Oct. 9 for his arrest.
Jeremy Lee Heins, 37, faces one felony charge of maintaining a drug trafficking place and a misdemeanor charge of possessing drug paraphernalia.
Heins turned himself in Oct. 13. At his initial appearance the same day, his attorney argued for the dismissal of the charge of maintaining a drug trafficking place, saying the criminal complaint provided no facts to support it. The judge determined that was a matter to be argued at a later date. Heins is due back in court for a preliminary hearing Oct. 30.
The case against Herbst and Heins is based on evidence gathered during a June 23 SLANT drug bust at the Jeffrey Road residence, according to the criminal complaint.
SLANT got a warrant for the search after Heins’ mother told police her son was using meth and there was potentially a meth lab at the home. The mother said she was concerned for Heins’ 5-year-old child due to Heins’ drug use and the “filthy living conditions.”
The 5-year-old’s mother said the child was returned to her in the past three to six months smelling of marijuana. She said she had no knowledge of the living conditions inside Heins’ home because she was “not allowed inside the residence by Heins due to there being baby raccoons inside.”
A search of the home turned up meth pipes, three rifles, ammo, a digital scale, small amounts of marijuana and meth and some match striker pads. Herbst told investigators the pads belonged to him and had been used to make meth years ago.
The SLANT reports from the search do not mention the living conditions or presence of raccoons. Heins was outside mowing the lawn when investigators arrived. Herbst was in a bedroom.
State court records show Herbst was convicted of meth-related offenses in 2010 and has an open meth case in Lafayette County.
Maintenance man calls in tip
In another SLANT case, 26-year-old Hans L. Gehrmann of Monroe faces felony charges of possessing THC with intent to deliver and maintaining a drug trafficking place, along with a misdemeanor charge of possessing drug paraphernalia. A warrant was filed Oct. 13 for his arrest.
A former police officer doing maintenance work inside Gehrmann’s rental home in the N4400 block of Klondike Road, Town of Clarno, called police with a tip that he observed drug paraphernalia, a BB gun and “a heat sealer that would be used to package items.”
He said he saw “three unidentified males sleeping in the residence” and did not feel safe there so he left before they woke up.
According to the criminal complaint, a subsequent SLANT search of the home turned up jars of THC-infused oil, bongs, pipes, grinders, a pistol replica and a glass plate with a $1 bill rolled up on it.
Undercover Snapchat deal
Lastly, a Dane County woman faces felony drug charges related to a SLANT undercover operation and traffic stop Aug. 4.
A warrant was issued Oct. 13 for Sharee N. Koker, 41, Fitchburg.
The investigation started with a tip from a driver arrested in New Glarus on a charge of operating while impaired. The driver told police the Snapchat username of the person who had sold him his Xanax pills.
The SLANT inspector used an undercover Snapchat account to contact the person and set up a meeting spot in New Glarus to purchase six Xanax pills for $150. The inspector then arranged for police to stop the vehicle.
The Xanax seller turned out to be a passenger and a minor, according to the criminal complaint.
His driver and mother, Koker, told police she was not aware her son was going to conduct a drug transaction and said she was out for a joy ride with him after she got off work at Taco Bell.
A search of Koker’s Saturn SUV turned up amphetamine salts, baggies, a digital scale with marijuana residue, baggies of marijuana and an iPad. Koker said the marijuana was hers.
Koker is charged with possessing a Schedule IV drug, amphetamines and THC with intent to deliver, all as a second or subsequent offense, and intentionally contributing to delinquency.
State court records show that as a 17-year-old in Racine, Koker was sentenced in 1996 to two years in prison for a conviction of possessing cocaine with intent to deliver.