Bay City police in the summer of 2024 responded to an odd situation — two Wisconsin men passed out in a Mercedes-Benz that had been idling downtown for hours. On awakening the slumbering men, police found the car contained nearly $100,000 in marijuana and paraphernalia, an assault rifle, and a handgun.
A year and a day later, the second of the two Wisconsinites pleaded guilty to four felonies, following the lead of his codefendant.
Caleb J. Trostle, 28, on July 17 appeared before Bay County Circuit Judge Jessie Scott Wood and pleaded guilty to manufacturing 20 to 200 marijuana plants, carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent, carrying a concealed weapon, and possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle. The first charge is a seven-year felony, the second and third are both five-year felonies, and the fourth count is a two-year high court misdemeanor.
Prosecutors agreed to dismiss two counts of felony firearm, a conviction of which mandates a minimum two-year prison sentence.
Trostle’s codefendant, 24-year-old Jaden M. Spatz, made the same guilty pleas in October.
Police in the early afternoon of July 16, 2024, went to the area of Second Street and Washington Avenue near the former Prime Event Center for a report of two slumped-over men in an idling but parked white Mercedes-Benz.
Read more at MLive
