Pubdate: Fri, 17 May 2002
Source: Eau Claire Leader-Telegram (WI)
Copyright: 2002 Eau Claire Press
Contact:  http://www.leadertelegram.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/236
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)

PROBATION OFFICER ARRESTED FOR GROWING MARIJUANA

MADISON -- A U.S. probation officer based in Eau Claire was arrested 
this week and accused of growing marijuana at his rural Mondovi home.

Timothy Easker, 40, was arrested at the Federal Courthouse in Eau 
Claire after the West-Central Drug Task Force searched his town of 
Rock Creek home and recovered 26 small marijuana plants growing 
indoors in plastic pots, said Dunn County Assistant District Attorney 
Andrew Maki.

Agents also seized plant food, a water jug, smoking pipes, seeds and 
a postal scale, Maki said.

Easker spent Tuesday night in the Dunn County Jail before being 
released Wednesday on a $1,000 signature bond, Maki said.

Easker has not been formally charged, Maki said, but he is expected 
to be charged with manufacturing marijuana, a felony punishable by up 
to 7 1/2 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

His initial court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday, June 18, 
before Judge Rod Smeltzer.

In a prepared statement released Thursday, U.S. District Judge 
Barbara Crabb said she was reporting Easker's arrest "with 
considerable sadness."

Easker, a 15-year veteran of the U.S. Pre-Trial and Probation 
Services, was suspended from service. His probation caseload was 
divided among other officers pending the outcome of his case, said 
Ken Hanson, chief probation officer in Madison.

Probation officers supervise activities of former federal inmates to 
assist with their social adjustment to the community and to protect 
the public, according to a mission statement at the U.S. Probation 
office in Madison.

Hanson declined to comment on Easker's case except to say, "We're 
confident in the system, and the system will render justice."
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