Crossroads Inn 3562 County Highway AB

2008 – Crossroads Inn owner and two bartenders caught dealing drugs

Dawn Guimond, 54, owner, charged with two counts of selling morphine, one count of selling heroin.
Bartender Jerome "Jake" Eith, 68, charged with one count of selling heroin.
Bartender Ronald "Buster" Blum, 59, charged with one count of selling morphine.

The Crossroads has been the subject of police scrutiny previously. In 1997, both Guimond and Eith, who was then a co-owner of the bar, were charged in a gambling crackdown. Each was placed on three years probation and lost thousands of dollars in cash seized during search warrant raids and forfeited as part of the plea deals.

A hit-and-run accident involving former town of Cottage Grove Board member Michael Klinger led to more raids at the tavern. The Dane County Sheriff's Office found gambling paraphernalia from the tavern in Klinger's vehicle while deputies were investigating the accident. Klinger was a bartender at the Crossroads and had been working there the night he hit a pedestrian on County AB as he was coming from work. He eventually was found guilty of hit and run involving injury.

A subsequent search warrant raid uncovered more gambling equipment in the tavern and more than $6,000 in cash seized, with about $5,000 of it being forfeited to the state.

Following the raid, the Dane County Narcotics and Vice Squad sent undercover officers and confidential informants into the tavern to buy drugs. Sales of morphine and heroin led to the charges being filed.

Guimond faces a maximum penalty of more than 42 years of combined prison and extended supervision time if convicted, but could also face action against her liquor license by the town of Cottage Grove.

Blum faces a maximum penalty of 15 years of prison and extended supervision while Eith faces a maximum penalty of more than 12 years of prison and extended supervision time.