Judge tosses drug house charges against mother, beau

Felony charges accusing a 45-year-old woman and her boyfriend of operating a drug house in Grafton were thrown out by an Ozaukee County Circuit judge last week.

During a Dec. 3 preliminary hearing, Judge Sandy Williams ruled that prosecutors failed to prove Jessica L. Knox and Brian D. Stephan, 29, probably were guilty of maintaining a drug trafficking place and dismissed the charges.

Knox and Stephan still face misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana, LSD and drug paraphernalia.

They were charged in October after police officers who were tipped off to suspected drug dealing at their home on Ninth Avenue pulled over several cars leaving the house and discovered most of the people in the vehicles were juveniles who were in possession of marijuana, according to the Grafton Police Department. 

A short time later, at 11:24 p.m. on Oct. 10, officers searched the home and were told by Knox’s 15-year-old son that he had been selling marijuana for months, according to the criminal complaint.

Knox, however, told an officer she had no idea her son was dealing marijuana. Stephan said he wasn’t aware that the teenager was selling drugs either but did know he smoked marijuana occasionally. The officer then asked Stephan to explain how he didn’t realize the teen was selling marijuana when there were roaches, or marijuana butts, in the room and it smelled of pot, the complaint states.

When questioned by officers, the teenager admitted without hesitation that he had been selling marijuana for about five months, according to the complaint.

The teen said he ordered drugs via Snapchat from a seller he didn’t know and received them in the mail from California. After he received them, he said, he sent Snapchat messages to another unknown person who met him near his house to collect payment, according to the complaint.

The teenager said that he and his partner sold marijuana and THC vape cartridges to people in Grafton and Cedarburg and that he netted $200 to $300 a week, the complaint states.

  Officers who searched the house found marijuana, LSD tabs and drug paraphernalia in the teenager’s room and in the bedroom of Knox and Stephen, the complaint states.

The teenager was arrested and turned over to his father. 

Knox also faces a bail jumping charge because, according to the complaint in that case, minutes after she was released from jail in connection with her arrest in the drug case, she stole a bicycle from outside the jail, violating the conditions of her release.

After the bike was reported missing, authorities reviewed surveillance footage and saw Knox riding away from the jail on it. They found the bike in the backyard of Knox’s home in Grafton. She told authorities that she had no other way to get home and thought the bikes on a rack outside the jail were there for anyone to take, the complaint states.

She is also charged with misdemeanor theft.