The Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Office dismissed all charges against a Woosung man Thursday, May 7, after an appeals court agreed with an Ogle County judge that evidence seized during a 2024 search could not be used.

Felony charges of unlawful possession with the intent to deliver more than 5,000 grams of cannabis, possession of 20 to 50 cannabis plants, and possession of less than 15 grams of a substance containing the painkiller tramadol were dismissed against Joshua T. Anderson, 40, during the Thursday afternoon hearing.

Anderson was arrested April 10, 2024, after the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office’s Special Operations Unit executed a search warrant at his home in the 700 block of South Central Street in Woosung.

He pleaded not guilty to all the charges and maintained throughout numerous court hearings that he had a medical marijuana card and was only growing the plants for his own use.

At the time of the arrest, deputies said they seized more than 46 pounds of cannabis with an estimated street value of more than $200,000 after what they described as a lengthy investigation. They said 27 cannabis plants taller than 6 inches were seized during the search, as were vacuum bags, a bag sealer and scales.

But in a Dec. 5, 2025, ruling, Judge John “Ben” Roe said the evidence seized in the search could not be used because deputies did not alert the judge who issued the search warrant that Anderson had a medical cannabis card.

Roe announced his decision one month after hearing arguments from Anderson’s attorney, Mitchell Johnston, and Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Leisten during a November 2025 Franks Hearing – a hearing held to determine if a search warrant was issued based on sufficient evidence provided by officers who requested the warrant.

At that hearing, Johnston argued the search warrant issued was not proper and asked that all items found during the search be suppressed.

Leisten argued that all the other information gathered by officers provided enough probable cause to justify the warrant. He said the omission of the medical marijuana card was not “reckless in regard to the truth.”

Johnston said the warrant did not meet legal standards because the judge who issued it – Ogle County Judge Clayton Lindsey – was not told that Anderson was a medical cannabis-qualifying patient, which allows him to grow plants for his own personal use in his own residence.

Johnston questioned whether the search warrant would have been issued if Lindsey had been aware of Anderson’s medical card that allows him to legally cultivate cannabis. He argued that police had “improperly omitted information” when securing the warrant.

Leisten countered that a medical marijuana card does not allow the defendant to grow an unlimited amount of plants and all of the other information gathered by police showed a pattern of likely violations of the Cannabis Control Act. He said Anderson’s medical marijuana card only allows him to grow cannabis in his home for his own consumption.

Roe also heard testimony from two Ogle County sheriff’s deputies who were also members of the Special Operations Unit. They testified the warrant was based, in part, on information from a confidential informant who said they smelled cannabis outside the home.

They said the unit had spent several weeks of surveillance by officers who observed a silver tent and bright lights in the home, fans in the windows, and Facebook posts that they said Anderson made regarding growing and cultivating the plants.

Lt. Michael Halfman said police learned Anderson had a valid medical marijuana card during the investigation, but was unsure when they learned that detail. He said he would have put that detail in the affidavit if he had known about it before the search warrant was signed.

Halfman also said there was an “abundant smell of cannabis” coming from the home.

Johnston argued that Anderson could possess up to five plants and product from those plants as he accused Halfman of “speculating” that Anderson was in violation of the Cannabis Control Act before the search warrant was issued.

Halfman said he believed it was “probable” that Anderson was growing more plants than allowed.

Johnston said the fact that Anderson had a medical marijuana card should have been provided to the judge before the warrant was approved and the omission of that information was done “recklessly or knowingly.”

In his ruling, Roe agreed with Johnston, noting that other information given to Lindsey – such as the Facebook posts – were not sufficient to issue the search warrant.

After Roe’s decision, Leisten immediately filed an appeal of the Franks Hearing and subsequent suppression of evidence ruling, arguing that Roe’s decision “substantially impairs the people’s ability to proceed at trial.”

The appellate court upheld Roe’s decision and Thursday’s hearing was the first court date set following that ruling.

On Thursday, Roe approved an agreed order to return to Anderson any “non-contraband property” confiscated by police during the search.

Raw cannabis as well as buds, trimmings, plants, and concentrate were subject to forfeiture and will not be returned to Anderson, the order states.

“There are no further court dates,” Roe said at the end of the hearing.