JACKSON -- A Jackson man arrested for trying to grow marijuana by following advice in a magazine was arrested last week after officers from the Jackson Police Department showed up to talk to the inhabitants about a loud music complaint.
Dustin Dean Menssen, 26, and Sarah Marie Sibou, 22, are charged with marijuana and controlled substance taxation-sale-no affixed stamp and possession of a small amount of marijuana. Menssen is also charged with child endangerment.
The criminal complaint states officers arrived at the apartment building on White Street and heard loud music coming from a downstairs apartment. After they had knocked on the door several times, it was opened by Menssen, who was identified by past encounters.
Menssen had what appeared to be blood on his chest and several cut marks on his arm. As an officer was asking Menssen about his injuries, a young girl crawled up to the door.
Menssen allegedly told the officers the child was his and that he was cutting himself to take out his frustrations. He was advised that the officers would need to check the residence to make sure no one was hurt.
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Upon entering the apartment, officers allegedly found a knife stuck in a puzzle box on the couch, a broken razor and another knife on a high chair and a knife lying on the floor near some of the child's toys. An officer gathered the knives and razor and placed them on a kitchen counter for their protection.
When asked about the situation, Menssen said the neighbors upstairs were playing a racing game loudly, which upset him. Instead of going up and fighting with them, he turned his music on loudly and took out his aggression by cutting himself.
While authorities asked Menssen to call the child's mother, Sibou, and have her come home from work, a Jackson County deputy who had also responded to the call checked the additional rooms in the apartment for people.
"After seeing the residence and being concerned that someone else was in the residence hurt or hiding, I did a brief search ..." his report states. "I searched (the child's) bedroom and no parties were found but there was a large closet with sliding wooden doors that was emanating a very bright white light from the cracks."
The deputy noted the room smelled humid, "like a green house smell." In the closet, along with a humidifier and a series of white hanging light bulbs, he found 20 plants in a tray that he believed to be marijuana.
When asked about the plants, Menssen told the deputy they were tomato plants.
Sibou arrived and was questioned. She said the child's crib was in the spare room, but the little girl slept with her and Menssen. Sibou told authorities Menssen did not allow her to go into the spare room, but she didn't know why. When asked to guess why, Sibou said, "I don't know, he is probably growing plants or something."
When told she was being placed under arrest, Sibou got upset and asked what she had done wrong. The officer explained that her name was on the lease and there was a grow operation in her child's bedroom.
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Arrangements were made for the child to stay with a family member, so Sibou was asked to pack items for the child. Authorities watched as Sibou entered the room with the grow operation to grab diapers for her daughter. Sibou signed a form consenting to a search of the apartment, then was taken to the Jackson County Jail, as was Menssen.
During an interview at the jail, Sibou answered numerous questions about the room with the grow operation by saying it was a storage room and she never went in there at Menssen's request, which did not seem strange to her. She said she did not know why Menssen had copies of High Times magazine around the house, that she had never read one and had never seen the plants. She said she couldn't see the bright light coming from the room and had never smelled anything unusual.
When Menssen was interviewed, he said the little girl was playing while he was cutting himself. He said he had broken apart the razor and was using a knife. When asked what was going on in the room with the crib, Menssen asked, "What do you mean?"
When asked about the bright lights and humidifier, Menssen said the humidifier was for the dry air. When asked about the plants, he said he was not sure how many there were, but he had gotten the information about growing them from the magazines. He told authorities he had never tried to grow marijuana before, but was hoping that half to a quarter of the plants would produce.
He said his intent was not to sell the drug, but then he said he wanted some to smoke and would probably try to sell small amounts if he needed money here and there.
"The magazines make it seem so easy," Menssen told officers.
During a search of the apartment, authorities found a marijuana bong bottle, a pipe with marijuana residue, magazine articles about growing the plants, work gloves, 25 plants and plant care products.
