Todd Boettcher

An Elmore man is headed to jail and his brother to drug court after both agreed to plead guilty to a lesser drug charge.

On Wed-nesday, 34-year-old Travis Jon Boettcher of Elmore pleaded guilty to third-degree sale of a controlled substance. The other two felony charges — first-degree sale of a controlled substance and a meth-related crime in a residence with a child present — were dismissed.

The charges stem after drugs and paraphernalia were found in his bedroom at his brother’s house in Elmore.

Judge Douglas Richards will sentence Boettcher on May 26, before turning him over to Ramsey County authorities.

Defense attorney Bill Grogin asked the judge to let Boettcher serve any jail time concurrently with that given by Ramsey County officials when he is sentenced May 27.

Travis Boettcher

“I believe that is 111 months,” Grogin told the judge.

Boettcher was arrested in Ramsey County for purchasing four ounces of meth from an undercover officer.

He pled guilty to first-degree possession of 25 grams or more of cocaine/heroin/meth. He was released after posting a $5,000 bond.

Because Boettcher has already posted bail, Grogin requested he be released under home electronic monitoring in his girlfriend’s Blue Earth residence.

County Attorney Brian Roverud told the judge he was not opposed to Boettcher’s release if he followed requirements issued by Ramsey County and he agree to an additional condition.

“The state is requesting that Mr. Boettcher has no contact with his brother Todd, a co-defendant in the case,” Roverud told Richards.

Boettcher will be released from Faribault County Jail once electronic home monitoring has been set up.

Meanwhile, 39-year-old Todd Jeffery Boettcher has been accepted to participate in the Faribault-Martin-Jackson Multi-County Substance Abuse Program, also known as drug court.

Boettcher was arrested after authorities executed a search warrant at his residence.

Todd was charged with the same felony counts his brother was.

Last month, he agreed to plead guilty to third-degree sale of a controlled substance if the other two counts were dismissed.

In March, Roverud referred Boettcher to drug court and he was approved on April 7.

“The drug court team met and screened him and found him to be acceptable. That’s good enough for me,” Roverud says.

The third-degree charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

If Boettcher fails to complete the 18-month drug court program, he faces a minimum prison sentence of two years.

While authorities searched the home, the complaint says, a bulb pipe used for smoking meth and three tubes for snorting meth were found.

In Travis’ bedroom four bags containing a green leafy substance tested positive for marijuana and had a total weight of 257.6 grams.

A safe also in the bedroom contained $1,000 and four plastic bags containing a white powder that was found to be meth. All the meth products in the safe weighed 9.1 grams.

Authorities also recovered a digital scale, glass pipes, snort tubes, a box of plastic bags and a glass water bong for smoking meth.

According to the court complaint, a person told authorities they had purchased meth from Travis at the residence on several occasions. He says he would drive Travis to the Cities to pick up meth and was given some of the drug as payment.