Whitewater man pleads guilty to drug dealing

Jonah Beleckis | September 27, 2016

ELKHORN—A 23-year-old Whitewater man pleaded guilty to counts of possession with intent to deliver marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms and was sentenced three years probation Friday.

As part of a plea agreement, Cody A. Arn, 212 W. Whitewater St., No. 2, also received a withheld sentence in Walworth County Court along with six months of jail with work release, Deputy District Attorney Haley Johnson said.

Charges of manufacturing marijuana, maintaining a drug trafficking place and misdemeanor possession of cocaine were dismissed but read in, Johnson said.

On March 11, Village of East Troy police stopped Arn in his vehicle and found marijuana, at least $15,000 in cash and drug paraphernalia, according to the criminal complaint.

At his apartment, police found $6,576 in cash, about 11 pounds of marijuana, 9 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, a 9 mm handgun, a .38-caliber revolver and a bulletproof vest, according to the complaint.

Johnson said due to Arn's age and no major prior record of convictions, probation made sense for the agreement. With the withheld sentence, she added, he would face more severe punishments if he violates his probation.

“The judge really warned him quite a bit, 'You really need to make some changes and stick with it,'” Johnson said.

Arn agreed to reject electronic monitoring, meaning he would serve his jail time, Johnson said.

One of the original agreement offers did not include work release, but Johnson said Arn has a job and her office wanted him to be a productive member of society.

“A lot of times we have people do things up front to make sure we feel comfortable with the offer we give them,” Johnson said. “A big part of this was him (Arn) showing that he had made some changes and would do well.”