Milwaukee area family charges with being part of marijuana ring
According to federal court records, a Milwaukee area man employed his parents to help him sell a ton of high-grade marijuana and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds on gems from Brazil, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Friday.
William N. Johnson, 24, of Fox Point has two prior felony marijuana convictions and directed the operation in recent weeks while out of jail on work release, according to the criminal complaint.
Johnson, his parents Rolfe K. Johnson, 56, and Vicki Johnson, 56, along with Eliot Schmader, 25 of Glendale and Timothy Urbashich, 22, of Delafield are all charged with conspiracy to sell more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana, according to documents relased Friday.
All were arrested this week, and all have been released on bond, except William Johnson.
Rolfe Johnson said Friday, "The charges are false, and we intend to fight them."
The complaint alleges that William Johnson was convicted of dealing marijuana in Waukesha in 2006 and received a 90-day jail sentence. He was convicted of marijuana possession in RAcine earlier this year and sentenced to 75 days in a work-release jail in Milwaukee.
He sold 100 to 200 pounds of marijuana a month at $3,400 a pound and had grown operations in Mequon and Glendale and purchased marijuana in other states, Proceeds were stored at his mother's Fox Point home.
Rolfe Johnson worked at his son's main courier and went to Akron, Ohio, about twice a month to pick up loads of marijuana from Canada.
William split the marijuana equally among Schmader, Urbashich and his father.
William Johnson told an associate he wanted to start dealing cocaine and open a gem-selling business, and hid about $500,000 worth of gems at his mother's house.
He is on probation until next year on the earlier marijuana conviction.