Man denies growing marijuana on forest land

In Flathead District Court on Thursday, a Great Falls man denied using U.S. Forest Service land to grow marijuana.

Skylar Wiegenstein, 25, pleaded not guilty to felony criminal manufacture of dangerous drugs.

Two weeks earlier, Wiegenstein’s alleged co-conspirator Smoky Alan Geldrich, 27, pleaded guilty to an identical charge.

On the witness stand, Geldrich admitted growing marijuana in buildings constructed on Flathead National Forest land between Sept. 1 and Sept. 20, 2013.

Court documents claim the pair were found after a U.S. Forest Service special agent followed up on several reports of illegal structures built in part of the forest. The reports referred to a possible marijuana grow operation being housed in the buildings.

No one was at the site on Sept. 6 during an initial investigation, but the agent found 20 or 30 marijuana plants in the area that appeared to have been tended to by people.

The agent conducted a surveillance operation Sept. 20 when Wiegenstein and Geldrich allegedly visited the site carrying duffel bags. Forty marijuana plants were found when the bags were searched.

Geldrich is set for sentencing on March 17. Prosecutor Andrew Clegg said that the Forest Service has requested the perpetrators disassemble the buildings they illegally constructed.

Geldrich agreed to remove the buildings.

Wiegenstein’s case is set to go before a jury on March 28.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.