Former Michigan lawmaker faces felony drug charges

GRAND RAPIDS — Former state representative Roy Schmidt was arrested this afternoon on drug-related charges after police on Wednesday seized marijuana plants and processed marijuana from his Northwest Side home and a second residence nearby.

Members of the Kent Area Narcotics Enforcement Team went to his home on of 7th Street east of Covell Avenue NW Wednesday after receiving information marijuana was being illegally produced.

A search of a second home owned by a relative on Myrtle Street near Jennette Avenue NW also yielded marijuana, said Lt. Al Roetman, who runs the county's drug team.

Schmidt was in control of marijuana operations at both homes, Roetman said.

The ex-city commissioner and West Side icon was booked into the Kent County Jail Thursday afternoon. He'll be arraigned Friday in Grand Rapids District Court.

Wednesday's raids are part of an ongoing strategy by KANET to enforce marijuana laws. Police this year have searched about 20 homes for marijuana violations in Grand Rapids. Although grow operations are no uncommon, police primarily are finding processed marijuana.

Three dozen people have been prosecuted in Kent County this year on the combined charges. of manufacturing marijuana and maintaining a drug house. Those convicted are typically sentenced to probation and given a fine.

Schmidt lost his 2012 bid for re-election to the state House after switching his political affiliation from the Democratic to the Republican party just before a primary filing deadline and offering money to someone with no political experience to run against him in the general election.

Investigators found no criminal wrongdoing in that incident.