Negotiations ongoing in pot case

SANDPOINT — A plea agreement could resolve the cases against a Bonner County couple accused of maintaining an indoor marijuana growing operation off Rapid Lightning Road.

Seth Matthan Walser was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing Wednesday in the magistrate division of 1st District Court, but the proceedings were postponed because of ongoing negotiations, according to court documents.

Walser, 31, is charged with marijuana trafficking.

Bonner County Sheriff’s detectives received an anonymous tip in early January that Walser was growing pot on property in the 3000 block of Rapid Lightning. A detective visited the property on Jan. 28 to check out the tip and could hear the din of the indoor lighting and smell the odor of pot from outside a shop building, a police report said.

Walser and Kimberly Sue Brown, 27, consented to a search of the premises, which led to the discovery of two grow rooms in the shop, one of which held about 50 maturing pot plants, the report indicated. Another room contained an additional 50 immature plants.

Walser, the report said, admitted growing the plants for financial gain, but told a deputy the grow was only about four months old and had not yet produced a harvest. Brown had no hands-on involvement in the operation, but was aware it being conducted, the report alleged.

The status of criminal proceedings against Brown remains unclear. Her case file remains sealed by court order, although court documents in Brown’s case indicate she is similarly charged.