A tip about a marijuana garden led a Mequon police officer to a riverfront home last summer, armed with binoculars.

After seeing what looked like numerous plants, the officer and a state Department of Natural Resources officer returned by kayak a few days later for a better view. After confirming the plants appeared to be under cultivation and not just growing wild along the shore, police returned to the home in the 12000 block of N. Circle Drive with a search warrant.

The homeowner, Greg Dorf, 52, a veteran area banker, was charged with manufacture of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and maintaining a drug trafficking place, both felonies, plus two misdemeanors, possession of THC and drug paraphernalia.

This week, Dorf pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of THC, all misdemeanors, and the other charges were dropped. Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Paul V. Malloy sentenced Dorf to two years of probation with the conditions of absolute sobriety and no use of controlled substances except prescribed medications in their original containers.

According to the criminal complaint, officers serving the search warrant found 18 plants, some over 6 feet tall, in the yard, as well as marijuana processing tools and more than 70 grams of pot inside the home.

Dorf, who served in senior management at JPMorgan Chase for many years, joined Town Bank, a Winstrust Community Bank, in August, at about the time police discovered the pot plants growing in his yard.

District Attorney Adam Gerol said that because Dorf has no prior record, and there was no suspicion that he was growing the plants for commercial purposes, the outcome of supervision and rehabilitation was appropriate.

Dorf's attorney, Michael F. Hart, said his client used marijuana as a holistic alternative to opioids to help control pain from multilevel spinal fusion resulting from a degenerative condition. He said news of the charges cost Dorf his new job and "untold amounts of professional damage."

Hart also credited Gerol and Malloy for realizing Dorf's predicament and that the case was never really about drug trafficking.