An Iron Range man who was convicted of growing more than 1,300 marijuana plants on his land was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison.
Thorsten Gorham Otterness, 50, of Side Lake, Minn., had pleaded guilty in federal court in November to one count of manufacturing 1,000 or more marijuana plants.
The marijuana was in a field adjacent to his resident in the rural village, the U.S. attorney's office said. It was spotted from the air in September and later confirmed by the Boundary Waters Drug Task Force.
As part of his plea agreement, Otterness said he intended to harvest and sell the marijuana.
He was sentenced in Duluth by U.S. District Court Judge Richard H. Kyle.
Vince Tuss • 612-673-7692
