MADISON, WIS. -- Jeffrey M. Anderson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Chad Peterson, 29, Osseo, Wis., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge James Peterson to three years of probation for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Peterson pleaded guilty to this charge on June 30, 2017.
During an interview with police officers after his arrest, Peterson admitted that he stored a large amount marijuana for co-defendant Blake H. Handrick on two occasions in 2015 at a residence in Eau Claire, Wis. Peterson also admitted that he helped Handrick prepare a package containing 26 pounds of marijuana on Dec. 28, 2015. Later that same day, Handrick allegedly delivered the marijuana to an undercover police officer and was arrested.
Handrick and two co-defendants, Steven B. Falstad and Joseph J. Cicione, are scheduled to go on trial in U.S. District Court in Madison on Jan. 29, 2018. A fifth co-defendant, Jason E. Weller, has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced on March 15, 2018.
The charges against Peterson and the other defendants were a result of an investigation conducted by the Eau Claire Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution of the case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wegner.
You are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
