Michigan Official Convicted of Federal Drug Crime Reelected in Landslide, Will Serve Term from Prison

A Michigan official who was just re-elected to office will soon be heading to federal prison, where he plans to begin and serve part of his term.

Monroe County Commissioner Mark Brant was re-elected on Nov. 5, despite having been sentenced to 18 months in prison in September for allowing marijuana to be grown on his land in southeastern Michigan. The marijuana was then distributed across the border in Ohio, reported CBS News.

"How can someone represent the people of Monroe County from a prison cell while not living in the area you are supposed to represent?" resident Bill LaVoy asked the Monroe News.

"While I'm gone, my phone will be available," Brant, 68, told the Detroit Free Press. "I have somebody who will be taking my messages. And my fellow board members have all volunteered to handle all of my constituents' concerns that I won't be able to handle."

Brant has served as a Michigan county commissioner since 2012. While he resigned from his previous term on Oct. 1, just a few weeks after receiving his prison sentence, he was re-elected in a landslide victory, achieving 91% of the vote for another four-year term.

He went into the Monroe County Clerk of Courts office earlier this week to be sworn into his post.

"Mr. Brant is not a drug kingpin," defense attorney Vincent Haisha said in a court filing. "His involvement in the marijuana business, and consequently his admitted crime, was merely a small factor of his professional life."