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Judge orders Palatine pot-growing suspect to give DNA

A Palatine man accused of operating a multimillion- dollar pot-growing operation out of several rented McHenry County homes must give a DNA sample to authorities trying to place him at the locations, a judge ordered Thursday.

County prosecutors say they want to compare Phillip Koeckritz's DNA against two soda cans and a pipe recovered from a McHenry house where authorities say they found nearly 1,500 marijuana plants growing in January 2009. A match would provide prosecutors with evidence not only linking Koeckritz to the grow house, as other witnesses do, but indicating he spent time there.

Koeckritz, 35, of the 200 block of Bothwell Street, faces multiple felony drug charges including conspiracy and unlawful production of cannabis stemming from what investigators say they found in that house and others in Woodstock and Johnsburg.

All told, authorities allege, Koeckritz was involved in an operation that produced as many as 6,000 marijuana plants worth millions of dollars. He has denied the charges and asked for a jury trial.

His defense Thursday objected to the forced DNA sample, arguing in court it was an unjustified intrusion of Koeckritz's privacy.

Judge Joseph Condon, however, sided with a prosecutor who said DNA testing could just as easily produce evidence favorable to the defense.

"Whether the defendant's DNA is present on two soda cans and a smoking device in the house seems relevant to this case," Condon said.

Late last month Koeckritz's co-defendant, Raymond T. Holland, 52, pleaded guilty under a deal in which he agreed to testify for prosecutors in return for a probation sentence.

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