DALTON BUST GOES AWRY, TACTICAL TEAM HITS WRONG HOME, FORCE PREGNANT WOMAN TO FLOOR DALTON - Four men dressed in black brandishing handguns crashed their way into the home of Jesus and Wendy Olveda of rural Dalton, pushing the couple to the floor with their hands behind their heads as their frightened 3-year-old daughter watched from a couch. Last Thursday night, the Green Lake County Drug Task Force, believing they were entering a suspected drug house, kicked down the door of the wrong home. This is the story as told by the Olvedas. Dee Evans, Markesan Police Chief and head of the drug task force, said he has been advised by counsel not to comment on the incident. District Attorney James Camp said he too cannot discuss it. A search warrant used in the break-in was kept secret by law enforcement officials until charges were presented Tuesday afternoon against the Olveda's next-door neighbor, Todd Griffin, 38, W5629 Grand Marsh Road, Dalton. The content of the search warrant remains sealed by the courts. Griffin, who had been in the custody of the sheriff since Thursday night, was charged Tuesday afternoon with manufacturing marijuana and keeping a drug house. Jesus Olveda, 38, said that once members of the drug task force realized they had searched the wrong home and were holding innocent people, several of the officers rushed through a garage door and ran across their property to the Griffin residence. He said one officer had to return to retrieve the search warrant. Jesus Olveda said Evans stayed behind to apologize and assured he and his wife that the task force would restore damaged property. Olveda said he is more concerned about the health of his wife, who is five months pregnant, and psychological damage to 3-year-old Xena. They have yet to get a good night's sleep since the break-in, he said Tuesday afternoon. And his daughter, he said, is expressing violent behavior. Thursday began as a typical evening in the Olveda home at W5653 Grand Marsh Road near Dalton. Wendy Olveda, 37, a fifth-grade teacher at Markesan Elementary School, was doing work for school at a home computer. Daughter Xena was sitting on an upstairs couch. Jesus Olveda, an employee at Del Monte in Markesan, was in a bedroom reading. Wendy Olveda saw what appeared to be a SWAT team dressed in riot gear approach the house. She went to the door, believing the officers would recognize her. As the door was being unlocked, it was forced open and Wendy Olveda was told to shut up and was pushed to the floor. Wendy Olveda told the armed officers she was pregnant and she said they responded by pushing her head down on the ground in front of her daughter. Jesus Olveda said he heard banging and yelling at the front door. He said, "When I got into the hallway, I saw four guys in black with guns drawn. They had a flashlight in my face and told me to get down on the floor. "I could hear my wife saying, 'You're at the wrong address,' but they didn't listen." he said. "When I lifted my head to say they were at the wrong address, one of them put a knee on my head and ground it into the floor." He said one officer repeatedly used vulgar language and he was kicked while laying with his hands behind his head. The tactical team proceeded to search every room in the home, upstairs and downstairs. Jesus Olveda said he began to hyperventilate and one officer standing over him asked if he was OK. He said, "I told him I was very upset and it was the wrong home." Jesus Olveda said it was after the first wave of task force officers pushed he and his wife onto the floor and went through their home, task force leader Dee Evans entered the home. Evans, he said, told the task force that they were indeed at the wrong address. Wendy Olveda is concerned because she is a founding member of the Green Lake county RAP, a drug prevention program. She takes her fifth-grade class for a courthouse tour each year and knows the district attorney, county judge and many law enforcement officers. Jesus Olveda said the officers in the initial assault on their home were from the Berlin area. "Don't the officers know how to read a fire number," asked Wendy Olveda. "This is a very traumatic experience for my whole family," Wendy Olveda said Tuesday. "I don't know how I'm going to be able to sleep. How can such a thing happen to an innocent family?" At about noon on Tuesday, Todd Griffin was led in handcuffs into a small courtroom at the Green Lake County Courthouse. Griffin and Public Defender Mark Slate of Markesan received the first look at the charges against the defendant. Earlier in the week, sheriff's personnel said they could not confirm that Griffin was being held at the county jail and also could not comment on activities of the task force. The state did not inform Slate or his client about the mix-up in serving the search warrant. The charges against Griffin were not read aloud in court, but Camp said later the felony charges lodged against Griffin include: delivery of marijuana, possession of marijuana with the intent to sell, manufacturing marijuana and maintaining a drug house. A fifth charge, possession of drug paraphernalia, is a misdemeanor. Circuit Court Judge W.M. McMonigal released Griffin on a $5,000 signature bond. Camp said the investigation into the charges against Griffin is still ongoing and more arrests may be made.
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