CHARLESTON, SC (WIS) - A former South Carolina state trooper who admitted to transporting
marijuana in his patrol vehicle was sentenced to five years in prison on
Monday.
United States Attorney Bill Nettles said that Kurt Steffen, 30, of Summerville was sentenced for manufacturing and possessing with
intent to distribute 100 or more marijuana plants.
Senior United States District
Judge C. Weston Houck sentenced Steffen to 60 months imprisonment to be
followed by 4 years supervised release.
Nettles said evidence
presented at the change of plea hearing established that Steffen was part of a
large scale indoor marijuana growing operation while employed as a state
trooper with the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
Steffen was hired by the
South Carolina Highway Patrol in May 2007 and graduated from the South Carolina
Police Academy in November 2007.
Some time thereafter, Steffen, along
with others, decided to begin a large scale marijuana growing operation in
order to make more money, prosecutors said.
Nettles said Steffen purchased a five-acre
tract of land in Ridgeville, SC, in May 2008, which would serve as the location
for the marijuana grow.
Prior
to the grow being discovered by the Dorchester County Metro Narcotic's Unit in
January 2010, the operation yielded multiple harvests of marijuana for Steffen
and his co-defendants, resulting in thousands of dollars worth of profit for
the group, Nettles said.
When deputies executed a search warrant on the property in
January 2010, they found thousands of dollars worth of equipment and over 300
marijuana plants spread throughout three different structures on the property.
During
his change of plea hearing, Steffen specifically admitted to transporting
marijuana in his South Carolina Highway Patrol vehicle. He also agreed to
forfeit his interest in the Ridgeville property to the federal government.
Steffen was facing five to 40 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $5
million to be followed by a minimum of four years supervised release.
The case was investigated by agents of the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA), the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office, and the
Summerville Police Department.
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Kurt Steffen (Source: WCSC)
