Forty-seven-year-old William Boyenga was charged in Freeborn County District Court Friday with three counts of third-degree controlled substance charges related to possessing, selling and manufacturing marijuana.

Specifically, Boyenga was charged with one third-degree controlled substance count for possession of marijuana with the intent to sell, one third-degree controlled substance count for manufacturing 5 kilograms or more of marijuana and one third-degree controlled substance count for possession of 5 kilograms or more of marijuana.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

There is a two-year mandatory minimum for each charge.

Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Boyenga Thursday morning after conducting a search warrant at his residence at 25213 725th St. in rural Albert Lea. There, they found 68 packages of wrapped marijuana in a chest freezer, 42 large marijuana plants growing in upstairs bedrooms and 34 large plants growing in the basement.

There was foil on the walls, grow lights hanging from the ceilings and water pumps for the hydroponic plants.

Freeborn County Chief Deputy Gene Arnold said authorities also found some areas outside of the residence where the intent to plant was evident.

Arnold said all of the seized packages weighed at least 1 pound each, and some weighed even as much as 3 pounds. That made for a total of somewhere between 80 and 100 pounds just in the packages.

On the street, a pound of marijuana could sell for as much as $2,000, he said.

The search warrant was executed after a Freeborn County deputy received information from an Austin detective that the Austin Police Department had executed a search warrant at Boyenga’s Austin residence in 2004 and discovered a large marijuana grow.

Arnold said officials in Austin had recently executed a search warrant on Boyenga’s residence there after receiving a tip of some unusual activity. They did not find anything there during that warrant but found out that he had a residence in Freeborn County after an investigator followed him to his home on 725th Street.

After the arrest Thursday, authorities questioned neighbors about whether they had seen an unusual amount of traffic out to the property. Neighbors indicated they had not.

Because of this, officials are surmising that Boyenga was selling the marijuana to dealers outside of the area.

During the search warrant, deputies also seized about 45 items of value from the residence due to proceeds of drug sales, along with $10,000 in cash.

It was one of the largest marijuana cases in the county in the last several years.

Boyenga’s next hearing is set for June 23 at 1:30 p.m.

His bail was set at $100,000 with no conditions.