Plea deal: Milwaukee landlord expected to plead guilty to federal drug charge

MILWAUKEE -- Ken Churchill, a Milwaukee landlord being sued by the City of Milwaukee for allegedly neglecting 12 of his properties on the city's south side, is now expected to plead guilty to a federal drug charge. That charge says he knowingly and intentionally distributed "a mixture and substance containing heroin."

Documents released this week show federal agents received information that Churchill was involved in distributing heroin. The documents say "agents conducted several controlled buys of heroin from Churchill" in May, June, July and September 2015. During those transactions, the documents say "Churchill distributed approximately 70 grams of heroin in total."

In October 2015, agents obtained a federal search warrant to search Churchill's business located on S. 56th St. in West Allis and at his home in Muskego. When agents entered Churchill's business, the documents say "Churchill had a loaded 9mm Ruger handgun holstered on his right hip and a plastic baggie containing 35 grams of heroin in his pocket."

Ken Churchill

A short time later, agents executed the search warrant on Churchill's home. They "recovered a digital scale, a .22 caliber rifle; a .380 caliber Hi-Point Handgun; a .40 caliber Glock handgun; a 9mm Springfield Arms handgun; a .45 caliber Taurus handgun; a .45 caliber Ruger P90 handgun; and a box of assorted ammunition." Also recovered from the property was more than $17,000 in cash.

The guilty plea to the federal charge carries with it a maximum 20 years in prison, up to a $1 million fine and a maximum of life on supervised release.