Marijuana cultivators? Winnebago mayor, son arrested

WINNEBAGO, Minn.  – Drugs agents swooped into a greenhouse and two properties owned by the mayor of Winnebago and his adult son and arrested them both. Scott James Robertson, 67, and Jacob Jon Robertson, 46, were charged with cultivating marijuana in an operation that, according to criminal complaints, was grossing $360,000. They were booked at the county jail 10 miles away in Blue Earth. Agents counted 240 mature plants. The criminal complaints alleged that the Robertsons had used an enclosed trailer  to shuttle plants between their once-licensed rural greenhouse to a Winnebago address. The in-town property, at 15/17 Main Street, had blacked-out windows. Their license to grow marijuana had lapsed in 2021. Even then, the license limited the Robertsons to relatively few plants with low levels of intoxicating THC content. At the Main Street address, agents reported 55 mature plants. At the greenhouse they reported 185 plants and a five-gallon bucket of seeds.

Transaction detail

An agent with the Albert Lea-based South Central Drug Investigative Unit, Briar Bonin, said a notebook at the greenhouse described rows and strains of marijuana that matched most of the plants that agents found. The notebook also contained financial transaction as recent as January, Bonin said.  Transactions, he said, included  partner profit-splits of $120,000 for a total profit distribution of $360,000. At a third address, 522 First Avenue Southwest in Winnebago, agents reported finding a catalog from Elev8, a cannabis seed supply company. The catalog listed the THC content of various stains. Many strains, said Bonin, were on labels of plants in the Robertsons’ Main Street building. Strains in the catalog listed THC between 29% to 32%. Minnesota law limits THC to 0.3%. For personal recreational use, the law allows only eight plants, of which only four can be mature and flowering.

The investigation

> January 2023: An anonymous tipster told police in Owatonna, two counties away, that marijuana was being grown illegally at the Winnebago greenhouse. The regional drug task force, based n Albert Lea, was notified. That triggered an on-site inspection of the geenhouse by the state Agriculture Department, which regulates marijuana cultivation.

> February 2023: Per protocol, state argiculture inspectors advised the Robertsons that a visit to the greenhouse was planned. Inspectors found no marijuana plants. The greenhouse, however, was under observation: An enclosed truck was seen backing into the greenhouse and being  loaded and then driven into town. Meanwhile drug investigators learned that Scott Robertson owned commercial property at15/17 South Main Street in Winnebago.

January 2024: A deputy sheriff visiting a business adjacent to 15/17 Main Street smelled strong marijuana odor from the Robertson property. Aware that indoor cannabis cultivation requires high power usage for as grow lights, agents examined records of the BENCO Electric co-op for Scott Robertson’s properties. Electrical use suggested active cultivation of a large number of plants.

February 2024: Agents picked up strong marijuana scent in the area of 15/17 South Main Street. The building had obscured windows that blocked light. It was impossible to look inside. With search warrant, several police agencies led by the regional drug task went inside the Main Street address and the greenhouse outside town. The Robertsons were arrested separately and taken to the Faribault County jail.

Hot-house marijuana. Typical plant grown indoors reaches six feet.