A Harford County ecologist known as Santa Bob to the children who visit his farm to pick out Christmas trees every year was sentenced on drug charges Monday morning, the Baltimore Sun reported.
A judge gave 62-year-old Robert C. Chance 18 months of supervised probation and a two-year suspended sentence. Chance pleaded guilty to charges of growing marijuana and possessing psychedelic mushrooms on his farm.
The yuletide institution also served as a Bel Air town commissioner in the 1970s and taught high school, earning a place in Harford County's educators' hall of fame, the Sun reported. As Ranger Bob, Chance has run nature camps for kids and appeared on the children's show "Romper Room."
The DEA raided Chance's farm in May, the Sun reported. After that, Chance took part in a 26-week outpatient recovery program.
