Phil Dawson

WZZM-TV, Grand Rapids, Mich.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A former corrections officer at the Kent County Jail says he didn't know possessing and distributing pounds of marijuana butter was against the law.

"I didn't think I was doing anything wrong," Brian Tennant said Thursday before he was sentenced in Kent County Circuit Court.

Tennant. 45, says he only gave the butter to his wife and three other corrections officers and they all have medical marijuana patient cards.

"Your Honor, I believed I was operating within the law," Tennant told Kent County Circuit Judge Dennis Leiber.

But Leiber sentenced Tennant to five years probation and ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine.

Tennant does not have a medical marijuana card and is not a patient caregiver.

And even if he was, edible marijuana products like butter are not permitted under state law.

As a corrections officer, Leiber said Tennant should know that.

"As a criminal justice major from Michigan State University and a sworn law officer would impose on you the responsibility of knowing what the law is and it's requirements," Leiber said.

Tennant was one of four county corrections officers arrested after police traced a shipment of marijuana butter to the Belmont home of caregivers Alyssa and Timothy Scherzer. The Scherzers supplied the officers.

Sgt. Timothy Bernhardt also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges, but died last month before he was sentenced.

Officers Todd VanDoorne and Michael Frederick are still waiting for trial.