Ingleside man sentenced in marijuana conspiracy case

An Ingleside man has been sentenced to a decade in federal prison for helping to grow more than 1,000 marijuana plants in a Rockford warehouse.

Justin T. Paglusch, 35, and six other people were charged in 2015 with conspiring to manufacture, possess and distribute 1,000 or more marijuana plants. The charges stemmed from the aftermath of a January 2015 fire at a warehouse in Rockford.

Paglusch in March pleaded guilty to conspiring to manufacture and distribute marijuana. On Friday, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and five years supervised release following imprisonment.

The sentencing was announced by Joel R. Levin, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

According to a news release from Levin's office, Paglusch and the defendants conspired to illegally grow and store marijuana in a Rockford warehouse between January 2013 and January 2015. Authorities said Paglusch admitted that his cousin - a 39-year-old former Des Plaines man - asked him to join the marijuana-growing operation in November 2014.

Paglusch agreed and also lived at the warehouse.

When Paglusch arrived at the warehouse in November 2014, more than 1,000 marijuana plants growing on the fourth floor were almost ready to be harvested, authorities said. There also was a smaller room on the fourth floor housing the baby or "clone" marijuana plants.

Authorities said Paglusch, his cousin and three other co-defendants started harvesting the crop in December 2014.

The harvested marijuana was weighed and packaged into 1-pound amounts and vacuum-sealed, according to the news release. The processed marijuana was stored in a vault at the warehouse.