Ed and Audrey Cramer

PITTSBURGH — The case in which a Buffalo Township pastor and his wife were initially accused of growing marijuana that turned out to be hibiscus will move to mediation next month.

Ed and Audrey Cramer of Buffalo Township filed a lawsuit against Nationwide Insurance and an agent who inspected a claim at their home, two Buffalo Township policemen and Buffalo Township.

The suit, filed in Butler County Court on Nov. 16, said a Nationwide agent who investigated a claim of a large tree that fell on the Cramer home then re-entered the property and took pictures of a hibiscus plant growing at the property.

The agent, who thought the plant was marijuana, sent the pictures to the Freeport police, who forwarded them to Buffalo Township police.

The Cramers' attorney, Al Lindsay, said on Tuesday that the matter will go before a mediator on April 17, in an effort to settle the case.

If the mandatory mediation is unsuccessful, it will move on to federal court in Pittsburgh, Lindsay said.

For more about this case, read Wednesday's Butler Eagle.