Police found hundreds of illegal marijuana plants and arrested a Houston man Feb. 22, at a property outside Jacksonville that was owned by James Gerald Martin, a local cannabis store owner who was murdered in Texas.

A Texas man was sentenced to 11 months of bench probation Monday after pleading guilty to his involvement in a black-market marijuana grow outside Jacksonville discovered through a Houston double murder in 2023.

Baron Erik Munchausen, 37, of Houston, waived his appearance in Jackson County Circuit Court and pleaded to a misdemeanor charge of unlawful possession of a marijuana item.

Munchausen also agreed to forfeit any cannabis or firearms he owns as part of the plea deal, which included downgrading a felony to a misdemeanor and dismissing three other felony charges.

The agreement was announced during a court hearing Monday by Munchausen’s attorney, Christopher Missiaen. The attorney said as he left the hearing that he had no comment.

The agreement is a long time coming for Munchausen, who was set to plead guilty to the original felony charges last summer before ripping up that plea deal and substituting Missiaen in place of another attorney.

Judge Laura Cromwell said in court Monday she accepted the state’s sentencing recommendation.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Michael Cohen said at the hearing that when authorities served a search warrant on a property in the 1400 block of Wagon Trail Drive in Jacksonville on Feb. 22, 2023, they found 572 cannabis plants, 275 pounds of marijuana, two firearms and $7,614 in cash. Munchausen was on the property at the time and was arrested.

The cash led Jackson County to file a civil forfeiture case, which has been resolved, Missiaen said in court. The money will be split between Munchausen and the county, court records show.

On Monday, Cohen did not mention that the black-market grow was discovered during an investigation of a Jan. 27, 2023, Houston homicide.

The property belonged to former Rogue Valley Cannabis co-owner James Gerald Martin III, 37, who was murdered in Houston, alongside a 35-year-old Portland man, Dana Ryssdal.

Munchausen was never a person of interest or suspect in the Houston double homicide, police said.