JANESVILLE — Hemp-derived THC merchant Jerry McCoy could face more than 130 years in prison in what prosecutors say is a scheme to sell massive quantities of cannabis that’s considered illegal in Wisconsin. The Janesville man stands accused of falsely packaging, marketing and selling the material as hemp-derived THC products that would be legal in Wisconsin.
McCoy appeared via video from custody Monday on 13 counts of trafficking illegal THC. He was arrested five days earlier following police raids on a half-dozen of his 16 Hemp 1848 stores in Rock and Green Counties — including his Janesville Hemp 1848 store in downtown Janesville, a block west of the Rock County Courthouse.
While McCoy’s attorney and his business associates maintain McCoy has done nothing illegal in selling hemp-derived THC, a Rock County prosecutor said Monday that McCoy has been running an “incredibly large, complex drug delivery scheme,” that involves “fraud.”…