By By NORMA LERNER / Niles Daily Star
CASSOPOLIS - A couple of best friends who grew marijuana on rented farmland in Calvin Township and sold it, will be seeing each other behind bars instead of in the marijuana patch.
Elwood Nolan, 64 of 905 Herbert St. Niles, and Carl McGraw, 58, of 2830 White St., Niles, each received two years of probation and one year jail Friday in Cass County Circuit Court.
According to Nolan's defense Attorney Anastase Markou, Nolan was open and honest and was not violent, lived in the area his entire life, worked 24 years for Clark Equipment and raised four children. He was hard working but unfortunately did the wrong thing, said Markou.
Nolan apologized to his family before Judge Michael Dodge imposed sentencing. Dodge said the men's marijuana growing was “significant.”
Dodge stated similar remarks about McGraw. He said he did not have a prior record and that the operation didn't fit into his profile.
McGraw, too, apologized to his family.
Prosecutor Victor Fitz said of McGraw that this was a large scale trafficking and a danger involved. They went out in open fields to do this activity. There possibly could have been shootings by property owners. “This was a sophisticated operation,” he said in asking for incarceration.
The quantity manufactured was more than 45 kilograms, according to records. They each received $960 probation fees, $570 in court costs and a $1,000 fine.
Another Niles man went to prison for 12 to 30 years for second-degree criminal sexual conduct against an eight-year old girl who was in his care on Sept. 4, 2004.
Fitz said Danny Thomas, 49, of 1348 Sheridan Street, Niles, waited until the girl's parents were gone. Then he played a “truth-or-dare” game with her that involved taking her clothes off and engaging in sexual activity. “This was a terrible crime with a young child. The innocence of a child was taken and put into adult sexual activity she should never have been subjected to. He needs to be punished seriously for this,” he said in asking for a prison term.
Dodge went beyond the high end of Thomas' sentencing guidelines of 58 to 171 months since he was a third-habitual offender which could increase his term from 15 to 30 years. He performed multiple assaults, he said, and noted he had a drunk driving record and committed the offenses while on parole.
Thomas apologized to the family.