Kent County Sheriff: 4 Corrections Officers Accused In Marijuana Butter Operation 'should Have Known Better'

[MiMedical]

KENT COUNTY, MI – Four longtime Kent County corrections officers are accused of receiving marijuana and making marijuana butter over a span of two years, but investigators say they don't believe the substance entered the jail.

 

Mike Frederick, Tim Bernhardt, Todd VanDoorne and Brian Tennant were arraigned on drug charges Friday, March 21, after post office employees alerted Kent Area Narcotics Enforcement Team officers to a suspicious package on March 17. An investigation tied the package containing a "large quantity" of marijuana butter to the men, authorities said. The employees are on unpaid leave.

 

Kent County Sheriff Larry Stelma said there's no indication at this time that inmates or other employees were involved in the alleged drug activity, which investigators believe occurred over a span of two years.

 

"We never had any suspicions of trafficking by these four officers or any of these people involved," Stelma said, adding that the allegations were "very surprising."

 

The package containing marijuana butter was delivered to a location. Stelma declined to state where the package was delivered to, citing an ongoing investigation.

 

Marijuana butter is made by heating ground cannabis buds and butter on a stovetop, according to Food Republic. The plant matter is strained and the butter can be used in cooking and as a spread.

 

Warrants were issued for the arrest of two other people involved in the alleged drug activity. They have not yet been detained.

 

The employees are accused of receiving marijuana, using it, making the butter and sharing it, Stelma said.

 

Tennant is a 20-year veteran of the department. Bernhardt and VanDoorne have each been employed for 22 years, and Frederick for 24.

 

Bernhardt is a sergeant and the others are officers.

 

Stelma said the employees "should have known better."

 

"I think that’s what so distressing about this is that they are long-term employees. They're people that have been involved in the criminal justice field for a long time," he said. "They know that this type of behavior is not condoned by either this agency or any other law enforcement agency."

 

Bernhardt is charged with delivery/manufacture marijuana and conspiracy to deliver/manufacture a controlled substance. Frederick is charged with delivery/manufacture of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance. VanDoorne is charged with possession of a controlled substance and maintaining a drug house. Tennant is charged with delivery/manufacture of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance.

 

Their bond was set at $2,000.

 

In a separate bust in February, corrections officer Michael Carlson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of use of a non-narcotic controlled substance after investigators received a tip of regarding illegal steroids. A cadet, Travis Otten, 24, was terminated when the allegations came to light. Authorities in February said an internal investigation was underway while Carlson remained on paid leave.

 

Stelma said the recent positive publicity surrounding the Kent County Jail - such as MSNBC's Lockup featuring the facility and the jail hosting the American Jail Association conference in 2012 - shows that the most recent allegation is a "very unusual circumstance" for the county.

 

"This really is a blip on the radar," he said. "When something goes amok, we deal with it. We don’t cover it up."

 

Stelma said such activity is not condoned.

 

"We're not making excuses for them. We're not going to justify it. We're going to deal with it and move on," he said.

 

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/03/kent_county_sheriff_4_correcti.html#incart_river_default

[t-pain]

i dunno, 20-year prison vets (at least 40 years old?) playing with packages of marijuana butter?

 

are they sure it wasnt just a disgruntled inmate getting his friends to send these guys a package?

 

story smells a bit.

[Norby]

How come when cops get caught with butter and it went to other people they are charged with "sharing" it while an MJ patient doing the same would be the head of a criminal enterprise?  How much were they "sharing" if it was a large quantity of MJ?  I don't think anyone should go to jail for a plant UNLESS you were caught with it and you put people in jail for that same plant for a living!

[t-pain]

the 'sharing' thing might be reporter bias talking. was 'sharing' in the press release or did the reporter write that up?

 

sharing is caring.

[t-pain]

you mean they arent all out to get you?

[bobandtorey]

UPDATE: Lawyer says accused officers have medical marijuana cards, made "inadvertent mistake"

[t-pain]

"My understanding is (authorities) only found out about these officers because the caregiver that was supplying them was their registered caregiver like they were supposed to do under the law," Block said. "The cops apparently raid the caregiver, they see the cards and then the witch hunt begins.

[Dr. Bob]

I've personally certified 70 members of law enforcement.  They get sick and injured too.

 

Dr. Bob

[bobandtorey]

I've personally certified 70 members of law enforcement.  They get sick and injured too.

 

Dr. Bob

Thanks

 

May i add also raided ?

[Wild Bill]

I see the same names over and over again on police reports. I think it is possible that less than 500 police statewide are causing cardholders problems.

 

Concentrated in any particular area of the state?

[phaquetoo]

These guys were corrections officers, im sure we may have a few on here, and I know we have leo looking in. but I wonder how many are pt's just looking how to get different kinds of mm so as they can use it and not smell like it or what ever,,,,yea cops are people too, and so are prison gaurds, and we are left to beleive we as pt and dr's and  c.g's cant be we cant be harrased by our employers or any agency!

 

I may not have said that right, pts and c.gs who have been busted know it dont matter what the law says!

 

Point is hopefuly these guys are pts just like us, the only difference is when they get caught the media gets to make a big thing out of it because of their jobs, they all got the charges we would get, the one charged with running the drug house must be where they found the butter or where the butter was mailed to!

 

Im sure we will hear more!

 

Peace

[t-pain]

I've personally certified 70 members of law enforcement.  They get sick and injured too.

 

Dr. Bob

 

any judges, legislators or prosecutors? no names, just curious.

[garyfisher]

Very interesting twist to the MMMA story.

[Dr. Bob]

any judges, legislators or prosecutors? no names, just curious.

1 prosecutor and one former assistant attorney general.  All well documented.  At least a dozen lawyers.  1 or 2 physicians.

 

And that is just off the top of my head without checking the records.

[trichcycler]

Active or veteran ?

 

sharing this information with me may have put you in my hero status file, thanks !

I've personally certified 70 members of law enforcement.  They get sick and injured too.

 

Dr. Bob

[Dr. Bob]

Most were retired or disabled.

[MiMedical]

UPDATE: 

 

Three of the four deputies are registered medical marijuana patients. The fourth isn’t, but his wife is, records showed.

Tim BernhardtCourtesy Photo

Timothy Scherzer, 47, and Alyssa Scherzer, 42, are facing multiple charges in the investigation for allegedly supplying marijuana butter. The butter is made by heating ground marijuana buds and butter, straining the plant material, and using the butter in cooking or as a spread.

Todd VanDoorneCourtesy

An attorney said that a “bizarre” technicality in the medical marijuana law says patients using edibles such as marijuana butter are not protected from prosecution.

Kent Area Narcotics Enforcement Team, or KANET, raided the Scherzers’ home on Van Dam Drive NE on March 17. The search warrant was executed after U.S. Postal Services workers alerted police about a package of marijuana being delivered to an undisclosed residence.

Brian TennantCourtesy Photo

Timothy Scherzer told police that he is a caregiver and patient, with patients including deputies Michael Frederick, 43, of Jenison, and Todd VanDoorne, 48, of Ada Township, and Christine Tennant, the wife of Deputy Brian Tennant, 45, of Wyoming, police said in a search-warrant affidavit.

Timothy ScherzerCourtesy photo

Alyssa Scherzer is the caregiver of the other deputy, Timothy Bernhardt, 48, of Rockford, the affidavit said.

Timothy Scherzer told police that he packages the marijuana butter into 2-pound containers. He had been delivering the product to Timothy Bernhardt, who wasn’t his patient but his wife’s, for 2½ years, reports said.

Alyssa ScherzerCourtesy photo

Scherzer told police he delivered 14 pounds of marijuana butter to Timothy Bernhardt three weeks earlier, reports said.

The next day, investigators met with Timothy Bernhardt at his home. He told police he received three or four containers of marijuana butter from Timothy Scherzer every month. He would then provide the product to deputies Frederick and Tennant. Tennant does not have a medical marijuana card, records said.

Bernhardt told police he provided five or six containers to Brian Tennant during the previous week, records showed.

Brian Tennant said he picked up containers of marijuana butter two or three times from Bernhardt. In the previous week, however, he received five containers. He kept two and took three to Frederick’s home.

Frederick said he had provided the butter to Brian Tennant and Todd VanDoorne in the past. He said that Timothy Scherzer is his caregiver but he receives the marijuana butter from Bernhardt.

Detective John Tuinhoff, who filed the affidavit, said police found marijuana butter at the homes of Tennant, Frederick and VanDoorne after obtaining consent to search their homes. The affidavit does not say if police found anything at Bernhardt’s home.

At the Scherzers’ home, police found 31 suspected marijuana plants, about 1,132 grams of suspected marijuana and 170 grams of the butter.

Attorney Bruce Block, representing VanDoorne, said, "This was medical use beginning and end.”

The deputies are on unpaid leave. They have all worked at least 20 years with the Sheriff’s Department.

They were arraigned Friday in 63rd District Court and released on bond.

"Mr. VanDoorne is certainly going to present a medical use defense because that’s what this was," Block said last week.

Sheriff Larry Stelma said there is no indication that the drugs were provided to inmates or other officer

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/03/three_of_four_busted_kent_coun.html

[phaquetoo]

im wondering what these cops would do if they pulled over a c.g with mm in the trunk?  would they let him go or keep it for themselves or arrest them and put them thru the court,  the court which they are going to get a taiste of on the other side of the law (not the mm law) if we got caught with butter we would be in court also, extractions unfortunatly are not legal now, all because of one person and a bunch of brownies!

 

We may not have heard about this if it was just mm and the right numbers/weight!

 

I guess they are carruthers!

 

peace

[Wild Bill]

The monster is eating it's children! I wonder how many in law enforcement are worried it will happen to them now?

 

 

extractions unfortunatly are not legal now, all because of one person and a bunch of brownies!

 

They are illegal because corrupt judges with an agenda have made it so. The brownies just gave them an excuse.

[t-pain]

these prison guards told the police everything.

 

good luck to them, they will need it.

[Restorium2]

Have a caregiver, be a caregiver? lol

 

Delivering through the US mail?

 

That stuff would be worth it's weight in gold in jail and these cops are guards.

 

You can't hold a factory job because they drug test you to the curb. Prison guards don't get drug tested? The world is a twisted place these days.

[MiMedical]

Well, hopefully they don't give up the fight and continue to help those that seek the natural benefits the plant has to offer..prescription narcotics and being a c/o would be difficult to do..

[pic book]

"The cops apparently raid the caregiver, they see the cards and then the witch hunt begins.

offcrs see names of their own and decide to nail them?  keep them from the promotions they covet for themselves?