BUST SLOWS, WON'T STOP, POT SUPPLY, POLICE SAY

It was the largest pot seizure in Brown County history, but even Green
Bay's head drug agent doesn't believe seizing more than a half-ton of
marijuana will have much impact on the area's drug trade.

"There'll be a vacuum, a void caused by this," predicted Lt. Tom Molitor,
whose officers arrested three men and were involved in a raid that led to
the confiscation of 1,354 pounds of marijuana. "You'll have newer people
coming in to fill the void.

"There's never just one source."

Brown County Drug Task Force agents seized the marijuana from a home at
1315 Weise St., on Green Bay's east side, over the weekend. Federal charges
have been brought against Hugo Campa-Gonzalez, 34, address unknown, and two
residents of the house, Bernardo Perez, 21, and Gerardo Perez-Martinez, 20,
whom Molitor described as brothers.

The three had initial appearances Monday in federal court in Milwaukee and
are scheduled to appear at a detention hearing at 9:30 a.m. today.

The investigation began in February, with a tip to law enforcement. Before
the month was out, local agents knew it was going to be a big case and
enlisted the help of state and federal drug agents, Molitor said. They were
able to tell the suspects had a large supply because they could make large
sales fairly quickly, he said.

But investigators actually expected the raid to reveal a large amount of
cocaine, not marijuana, he said. They seized a few ounces of cocaine, but
nothing compared to the huge amount of marijuana that was in the house, he
said. He speculated that the suspects had sold out most of their cocaine
supply and had only recently acquired the marijuana.

Officers found the marijuana in bales in the basement of the home, said Lt.
Gary Van Straten, the Brown County Sheriff's Department representative on
the task force. He said the drugs had a street value of $2.2 million and
probably had been trucked into Green Bay.

Agents had the home under surveillance over the weekend and waited until
all three of the suspects were arrested in traffic stops before they raided
the home, Molitor said.

Narcotics agents bought drugs from the men nine times, according to an
affidavit filed with a search warrant in Brown County Court on Monday.
Agents bought about 4.3 ounces of cocaine and two pounds of marijuana
during the investigation.

"These guys are big wholesalers, but they were also doing small retail
sales, because that's very lucrative," Molitor said.

In general, marijuana and cocaine fetch higher prices in Brown County than
they do in Milwaukee and Chicago because Brown County is farther from many
of the sources, he said. That makes Brown County an attractive place for
drug-dealers, because they can earn more profit on their sales, he said.

Small amounts of marijuana and cocaine sell for a higher profit than larger
amounts, so these wholesalers were supplementing their income with smaller
sales, he explained.

The size of the seizure likely wouldn't cause the local prices to fluctuate
much, he said. But even if it did, it would only make Brown County an even
more attractive market for profit-motivated drug dealers, he said.

"For Brown County, this is more than a drop in the bucket, but does it mean
we're winning the war on drugs? No," Molitor said. "But it does means this
pot is not going to be used by this huge demand base."