KANE COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) – An Illinois man with cancer is headed to prison for possessing THC-infused chocolate.
Investigators say they found evidence that 37-year-old Thomas J. Franzen is a drug dealer after a box containing 42 pounds of the chocolate was mailed to his home in Montgomery from California. They searched his home and discovered cocaine, another 100-plus grams of marijuana, a digital scale, $2,000 in cash, ledgers used for drug sale tracking and packaging materials, NBC Chicago reports.
Franzen has stage-four testicular cancer, according to a report from The Daily Herald, which had reached his lungs and abdominal cavity as it spread. His attorney argued the chocolate with THC allowed him to self-medicate. Prosecutors, however, say the marijuana found during the home search did not come from a medical marijuana dispensary and “far exceeds” what someone would have for personal use.
Franzen will serve four years behind bars after pleading guilty to marijuana possession. Prosecutors say they dropped a drug trafficking charge, which could have meant as long as 12 years in prison, in “recognition of the seriousness of Mr. Franzen’s medical condition”. Franzen’s defense team says the move to drop that charge showed “compassion” from prosecutors.
According to investigators, Franzen claimed his medical condition wouldn’t allow him to sit through his trial or serve prison time and delayed his prosecution for a period of over five years. Prosecutors never received confirmation of whether or not that claim was true after asking for it.
He will be in court again on June 14 for medical testing, which will help a judge figure out if he is fit to serve his four-year sentence.
