Man, 70, nabbed again for pot grow

BIG LAKE — A report of a disturbance led Alaska State Troopers to a twice-convicted, and apparently unrepentant, 70-year-old marijuana grower.

According to documents Trooper Andrew Gault filed in the case against Ronald Henning, the case began at 9:09 p.m., Nov. 21 when he arrived at a cabin on Boundary Road.

“I immediately detected what from my training and experience as a law enforcement officer was the strong odor of raw or un-burnt marijuana,” Gault wrote.

According to Gault, one brother had called to say he’d been in an argument with the other brother — neither of whom would be charged with a crime. But one did walk away drunk on a cold, snowy night so Gault and another trooper decided to check on him.

They followed the brother’s tracks, which led to cabin No. 6. Troopers knocked on the door, which swung open. Inside they saw the brother and Henning and marijuana plants growing under lights.

According to property records, the land on which the cabins sits belongs to Mike Stephens, former owner of the now-removed Mile 49 Cabins. A neighbor said the property was the same one to which Stephens moved cabins last summer, touching off a petition drive and a move to re-write Mat-Su Borough ordinances and prevent him from moving his cabins — long famous as havens for criminal behavior — to Big Lake.

Henning let Gault and the other trooper search the cabin and agreed to talk to them, taking responsibility for the marijuana and for the .22-caliber revolver they found in a bag nearby.

It’s a crime to possess a gun as a convicted felon — which Henning is — and to possess a gun while involved in a drug crime. In addition to drug crimes, Henning also was charged with two counts of weapons misconduct

As for the marijuana, Gault writes troopers found 112 plants that had roots in the soil.

“Henning was advised several times he had the ability to revoke consent (to search the cabin),” Gault wrote.

He said that Henning had been convicted of possessing more than a kilogram of marijuana in a federal case from 2003 and in state court in Anchorage in 2007 and in 1988.

In fact, he was wanted on a warrant from yet another marijuana case filed in 2011. That case had been open since it was filed after Henning allegedly failed to appear for his first court hearing in September of that year.

Records from the federal case were not available in online databases except from the very tail end. He was apparently released from jail into the supervision of his probations officer in April 2007. By April 2009, with still a year left to go, the court decided to let him off supervision early.

“The defendant has complied with the rules and regulations of supervised release, has had a stable residence at a clean/sober living facility, has shown leadership qualities at that house, and is no longer in need of supervision,” his discharge letter from the time reads.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.