Weston sentenced for involvement in meth operation

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- A 19-year old New Ulm man was sentenced Monday to serve time in a state prison for a felony drug conviction.

Justin Patrick Allen Weston was convicted Oct. 12 of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and controlled substance crime in the fourth degree following a trial by jury in Brown County District Court.

Weston was sentenced by Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg on Monday morning. Rodenberg gave Weston credit for 121 days and ordered him to pay $143.

Weston was one of six people arrested during a search-and-seizure action at a house in New Ulm in February by New Ulm police, who had reportedly been conducting an undercover investigation into illegal drug traffic.

Two of the investigating officers, Investigator Jeffrey Hohensee of the New Ulm Police Department and Dan Louwagie, coordinator of the Brown-Lyon-Redwood Drug Task Force, testified at trial that they arranged to buy an "eight ball" of meth from Weston on Feb. 17. THey learned that more meth was cooking at the home of co-defendant Brandon Saffert, where the raid took place on Feb. 23.

Scott Kutcher of Mankato, Weston's defense attorney, said that while the sentence is not the downward duration departure that he asked for during Monday's hearing, Rodenberg's decision represents the lower end of the presumptive sentence for Weston's offense. Kutcher said he asked for a departure to 72 months so that Weston would be immediately eligible for "boot camp" -- the state's Challenge Incarceration Program.

Kutcher said Weston's role in the methamphetamine operation, which was raided at the time of the arrests in February, was only the role of a seller -- he was having his hair cut by co-defendant Hannah Manko while others were breaking Sudafed tablets to make the meth.

"He also has a strong support network, so he has a good chance of success," Kutcher said.