MCKENZIE BRIDGE, Oregon (STPNS) -- CAMP CREEK: Owners of 60-acre parcel will retain their $900,000 Camp Creek property for at least a year following a plea bargain in Lane County Circuit Court last week. In a Thursday appearance, Arlen Weller, 59, pleaded guilty to six of 19 charges related to a police raid last summer. Investigators reported they discovered a large marijuana growing operation, stolen vehicles dumped in a custom made pond, and illegally buried solid wastes and hazardous materials when they searched the property at 37399 Camp Creek Road on August 4th.



Lane County Circuit Judge Maurice Merten sentenced Weller to 30 days in jail on an unlawful dumping charge and placed him on three years probation. He also accepted the guilty pleas on four counts of second-degree theft, another for operating an unlawful disposal site and one for second-degree water pollution. In addition, the deal requires the couple sell the property to pay for environmental testing and cleanup costs, or show proof of efforts to sell it. Christine Weller was not charged with a crime related to the incident.

Dropped from the case were charges of felony water pollution, unlawful air pollution, menacing, unlawful possession of methamphetamine, unlawful manufacture of marijuana, and two charges of theft.

In Circuit Court the week before, Patrick Weller, 30, was sentenced to 36 months of probation for first degree theft and possession of a firearm by a felon, in addition he was ordered to stay away from his father and repay a $7,550 insurance settlement of a car that was found crushed and buried on the site.