Marathon County Man Reaches Plea Deal for Possession Charges

Wednesday, January 10th, 2024 -- 1:01 PM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) A Marathon County man facing two high-level felony cases has reached a plea deal for one while he awaits trial for the other.

According to Mike Leischner with WSAU, Jason Olerich pled guilty to one count of possession of cocaine with the intent to deliver and maintaining a drug trafficking place. Seven charges were then dismissed but read into the record including possession of THC, child neglect, and possession of LSD.

Judge Scott Corbett then handed Olerich three years of probation as part of a withheld sentence. The 41-year-old must complete all treatment and counseling programs and maintain full-time employment or schooling. He will also have his driver’s license suspended for one year.

Any violation would come with an automatic 30-day jail sentence, which was imposed and stayed as part of the deal. The deal covers one case against Olerich. The second case involves the use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime and child enticement.

Those charges stem from an incident two years ago when the then 39-year-old was chatting with an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old girl. During the conversations, Olerich made arrangements to pick the “girl” up and supply her with drugs in exchange for sex.

Despite several reminders that “she” was 15, Olerich insisted on moving forward with the plans. Officers then arrested him as he was waiting to pick her up. Those charges date back to May of 2019. The cases have been scheduled for trial at least three times including in March of 2022 and May of 2023.

The earlier attempt was put on hold while the state combined the drug-related offenses and child sex crimes into one case. Another attempt at a trial in November 2023 was put on hold after the sides were able to reach an agreement on the drug charges, which was announced yesterday.

The sides will return to court on Thursday for another attempt at scheduling a trial on the child sex crimes. Court records show that Olerich will not have to attend that hearing.

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