MONROE — A man who told police he uses marijuana to help with medical conditions has been sentenced in connection to a marijuana grow operation south of Juda, while his co-defendant’s case is still pending, according to Green County Circuit Court records.
James Kurt Scheidegger, 61, pleaded no contest Aug. 30 to a Class G felony charge of manufacturing or delivering THC. He was sentenced to three years on probation.
Other charges, including maintaining a drug trafficking place, were dismissed but “read in,” meaning Judge James Beer could consider them at sentencing.
All property seized during the course of the case is forfeited to the state, as a condition of Scheidegger’s probation.
His co-defendant, 55-year-old Glen Leroy Martin, has a plea and sentencing hearing Oct. 22 before Judge James Vale. Martin faces two Class G felony counts of manufacturing or delivering THC as a second or subsequent offense and a misdemeanor count of possessing drug paraphernalia.
The cases against Scheidegger and Martin stem from a Jan. 5 search of their then-shared residence in the N500 block of Union Road, Town of Spring Grove.
According to the criminal complaints:
Martin “came to the sheriff’s office on Jan. 5 to report a marijuana grow operation that is ongoing” at the residence. He said he lived there with Scheidegger off and on, and Scheidegger has lived there about 10 years.
Martin told deputies he recently moved out “because he is sick of the environment” in the home and that Scheidegger “belittles him.”
A search warrant executed later that day found 27 living cannabis plants and associated paraphernalia inside the residence.
Scheidegger told deputies he was using the marijuana to help with medical conditions.
The criminal complaint acknowledges Scheidegger has “a significant medical history that (is) very active.”
State court records show no criminal record for Scheidegger in Wisconsin, besides an alcohol-related, second-offense conviction of operating while intoxicated from 2002.
Martin has a criminal record going back about 30 years in Wisconsin, including convictions of marijuana possession and a forgery case that resulted in a four-year prison sentence in 1995.