A Butler County man sentenced to eight years in prison for his involvement in a huge marijuana growing and selling enterprise allegedly took pictures of undercover drug task force agents and threatened to circulate them.

Justin Baker, 32, of Fairfield Twp., was found guilty on numerous counts of drug cultivation, trafficking and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity by Judge Robert Peeler on Wednesday morning. Peeler sentenced Baker immediately because the sentences on most of the 10 charges are mandatory. He also fined him $48,000 but waived the fine because Baker claimed indigence.

Prior to the sentencing, Assistant Prosecutor Andy Sievers told Peeler that Baker was allegedly caught taking pictures of two of the Warren County Drug Task Force undercover agents and one of their car license plate numbers when they were going over evidence prior to trial and again on Tuesday.

“Yesterday again the defendant took photographs of the undercover officers (names omitted) and made a statement that he would put those on the Internet and on the front page of the news,” he said. “We were alarmed at the first and more than upset about the second.”

Baker’s attorney Jack Garretson — who openly wept after his client and long-time family friend was found guilty — was incensed by the accusation and denied Baker intentionally snapped the pictures to put the undercover cops in danger.

“They were shadows up in a warehouse. It wasn’t like he walked up and took their pictures. I was there,” he said nearly shouting. “This is like dancing in the end zone after a 50-to-nothing score. It’s crap.”

Peeler, who said his decision was extremely tough, called the accusation troubling but did not change Baker’s sentence. He sentenced Baker to the mandatory number of years on each of the 10 counts — a total of almost 25 years — but ran them all concurrently.

Sievers said he saw the pictures and had them deleted. Prosecutor David Fornshell said staffers in his office and some of the agents heard Baker’s comment about the snapshots. He said he wished Peeler had padded Baker’s time.

“I think there should have been a premium for that type of conduct,” he said. “When you’re thumbing your nose at law enforcement to the end, you should get a premium beyond the mandatory minimum.”

Throughout the two-day bench trial, a dozen giant brown paper evidence bags — containing 381 marijuana plants — littered the courtroom, along with “grow lights,” a CO2 canister and other implements used to grow marijuana.

Eight people were indicted in the ring that was exposed when 18-year-old Tyler Pagenstecher was caught selling marijuana to his Mason High School classmates.

Pagenstecher’s activities were the only actions that actually occurred in Warren County, and Baker’s attorneys — who did not call a single witness — argued he couldn’t be culpable because all of his activities transpired in Butler and Hamilton counties.

Garretson also challenged how seized marijuana is weighed — the amount impacts the severity of the charge — since fresh plants are 80 percent water and not all portions of the plant contain the active drug. He said both are issues for an appeal.

“I’m hoping we can either change the law or change somebody’s mind,” he said.

Sievers told Peeler Tuesday evening that Pagenstecher testified he was sold marijuana in Warren County by co-defendant Michael Lopez more than once and that marijuana may have originated from one of Baker’s “grow” operations, which links the players in the marijuana ring.

The right side of the courtroom was in tears after Peeler issued his ruling, but none of the dozen or so of Baker’s friends and family wanted to comment. A family member simply said “it’s devastating.”