Sisters accused of running a drug operation out of their Sheboygan home

SHEBOYGAN -- Two sisters are accused of running a drug operation out of their Sheboygan home. The accused are 25-year-old Ariel Koepke and 21-year-old Autumn Koepke. Each faces the following charges:

According to the criminal complaint, Sheboygan police executed a search warrant at the Koepke home in Sheboygan on Thursday, February 9th. Officers "smelt a strong odor of marijuana emanating throughout the house." When officers went to the kitchen in the house, they "found a drug ledger. It was a white envelope with the names and dollar amounts on the reverse side." The complaint indicates "all of these are consistent with names and dollar amounts of people who were provided drugs."

The complaint says officers also found in the kitchen "three individual clear plastic bags containing a green leafy substance consistent with marijuana." Officers located a scale commonly used for weighing controlled substances, cash folded in half and "trace amounts of marijuana on top of the digital scale." Officers also located a small backpack in the house that contained "food saver bags" along with marijuana and even more cash.

When officers perform a Narc pouch test on the samples in the baggies, "each tested positive for the presence of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana."

The most serious of the charges the sisters face comes with a maximum penalty of three-and-a-half years in prison or $10,000 in fines. Both are expected back in court for their preliminary hearings on February 22nd.