DARLINGTON — A couple caught with a pot-growing operation in a rented home they shared with their three children near Yellowstone Lake State Park apologized and expressed shame and regret at their sentencing Jan. 15.

Eric D. Switzky, 38, and Kristen D. Switzky, 36, pleaded guilty last fall to Class E felony counts of manufacturing and possessing THC with intent to distribute, both counts as a party to a crime.

They’re also convicted of three misdemeanor counts each of child neglect.

Eric Switzky was sentenced to six months in jail and four years probation. Kristen Switzky was sentenced to 30 days in jail, to be served within the next year, and four years probation. Both requested to serve their jail terms in Dane County, as the couple now resides in Monona.

The Switzkys fought the cases for nearly two years.

The judge assigned to their cases, Green County Judge Thomas Vale, granted their motion in May 2018 to suppress evidence collected from a search warrant that was the basis for the case.

The search warrant was authorized by Lafayette County Judge Duane Jorgenson and executed in October 2017. It resulted in deputies seizing over 20 pounds of marijuana and finding a 75-plant grow operation and butane lab for producing hashish oil at the Switzy home on North Lake Road in the Town of Fayette, according to court records. The home is located on the edge of Yellowstone Lake State Park.

The basis for the search warrant came from a confidential informant who told authorities the Switzkys were growing marijuana indoors and outdoors on their property and distributing the harvests for sale.

But defense attorneys for the Switzkys argued that the informant was unreliable and police had made no attempts to corroborate the information before obtaining the warrant.

Vale agreed, effectively putting the brakes on prosecution. Vale said police could have done more research and that probable cause should have been more clearly established.

The state appealed the judge’s decision, and in June, a three-judge panel of Brian Blanchard, JoAnne Kloppenburg and Michael Fitzpatrick reversed Vale’s decision — but it was “a close call,” the appeal judges wrote in their opinion.

Detective Erik Longseth, a detective with the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office and State Line Area Narcotics Team, testified at the Switzkys’ sentencing.

Longseth described a home filled throughout with marijuana plants, growing paraphernalia and processing equipment, including a butane lab in the kitchen for producing hash oil. He said an extension cord related to the operation went through the room of the Switzkys’ eldest child and a ventilation system for plants growing in the basement went up into the living area upstairs used by the entire family.

District Attorney Jenna Gill argued that the Switzkys subjected their family to a dangerous environment.

“Society thinks marijuana should be legal and there is no harm that comes (from) it,” she said, “but the court knows there is harm ... We are not talking about simple use or possession but a large grow operation with minor children in the home with a butane lab.”

Gill commented on the number of guns the Switzkys had and described how the guns were unlocked and accessible to their daughters, who were 7, 11 and 13 at the time.

Gill said the Switzkys were selling or giving the marijuana to Travis Aide of Platteville to sell for them. She said Aide, now 23, was stopped by police the day before the warrant on the Switzky home with $2,466, a half-pound of marijuana and a notebook with a list of names of people he was selling marijuana to on behalf of the Switzkys.

The pre-sentence investigation recommended four years of probation for the Switzkys.

Gill also requested jail time, saying, “Five years ago this case would be a case where they would go to prison. This is not the small grow that everyone makes it out to be.”

Eric Switzky’s attorney Luke Steiner disagreed with the recommendation of jail time.

“I don’t think jail time is needed, don’t think will provide any deterrent toward this because he won’t do it again. The state’s recommendation is going to disrupt the stability of the family,” Steiner said.

Steiner said Eric Switzky admitted he started the grow operation after he lost his job in 2015 and he intended to support his family with it.

“He cares more about the women in his life more than anything and would like nothing more than to provide for them and make life great. He did this with that in mind,” Steiner said.

When given the opportunity to speak in court, Eric Switzky took responsibility for his actions.

“What I did was wrong and I take full responsibility for everything that went on at the home. It was all done by me,” Eric Switzky said.

He apologized to his children for putting them at risk and for bringing his wife into the situation.

“If it wasn’t for me she wouldn’t be here,” he said.

However, Gill said Kristen Switzky did not play a small part in the growing operation, was complacent and allowed for it to happen for a long time.

“Eric is taking 100% of the fall for this but Mr. Switzky did not do this all alone. It is not fair to say that one party is more at fault than the other when both resided in that home, both knew what was going on and did it together,” Gill said.

Gill also argued that as parents they were both responsible for their children and their welfare.

“Just because she loves her kids and is a good mom now doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t be punished for what she did,” Gill said.

Mark Eisenberg, attorney for Kristen Switzky, rebutted that the state gave uncorroborated and misleading information about the involvement of Travis Aide with the Switzkys. Eisenberg argued that Aide was and is a drug dealer that could have received the marijuana from another source and is not a reliable source of information.

“The state lies in bed with this guy and gives him a pass,” Eisenberg said, pointing to the probation Aide got for transporting drugs in Lafayette County.

Aide failed to report to jail for a sentence last September and is currently wanted on warrants in three counties for criminal charges, according to court records.

Eisenberg also argued the Switzkys were not bad parents and never harmed the children. The children were deemed “bright, well-behaved young girls, which indicated positive parenting despite the parents’ illegal activities, and were safely returned to the home.”

As he recommended probation for Kristen Switzky, Eisenberg said, “She is a wonderful person, very good mother, loyal wife. Why do we want to make her a burden on society when she is right now being a benefit to society?”

Kristen Switzky told the court she was sorry and “embarrassed and ashamed.”

“I think of the look on my kids faces when I picked them up after I got out of jail. That is something I never want to experience again,” she said.

In sentencing Eric Switzky, Vale said “there is a bright line between possession and using and production.”

“Clearly that line was crossed in a dramatic fashion ... There was intention to go at this in a substantial fashion. Losing a job is not an excuse for going into the drug-production business,” Vale said.

Vale said no matter what happened, the children would suffer.

“I sit here and feel really bad about having to send anybody to jail or prison because the children are going to suffer. That is the direct consequence of egregious misbehavior on your part,” he told Eric Switsky. “I don’t understand any parent who would place their children in that situation. I can’t comprehend why a loving father would make that decision.”

Vale argued that Kristen Switzky had to know how serious their activities were and that they were illegal.

After handing down her sentence, Vale told her, “I want you to discuss this with your children and tell them ‘Mom and Dad screwed up big time.’ This is punishment. It’s supposed to deter you and it’s supposed to deter other people from doing the same thing.

“I hope you hate every minute you are (in jail) and I hope you are truly upset and concerned for your children and you spend a great deal of time explaining what you did was wrong, what your husband did was wrong and tell them ‘Don’t you go down this path and think that it doesn’t matter.’”