BUCKS EXEC CHARGED AS POT GROWER

It was a high-tech operation tucked into the attic of a posh home in Bucks
County's most affluent suburb. Two dozen mature marijuana plants were
growing hydroponically, just waiting to be cut, weighed, bagged and,
authorities believe, distributed.

And the expert gardener behind the secret stash was a millionaire CEO - a
corporate titan who raised the pot seedlings with loving care, authorities
said.

Daniel Goldberg, 52, president and CEO of a New Jersey insurance company,
was nabbed Saturday night in his Upper Makefield home, charged with drug
possession and intent to distribute. Goldberg's 28-year-old housemate also
was charged, authorities said.

Now, Goldberg, who could face five to 10 years in prison, has temporarily
stepped aside as CEO of the MIIX Group in Lawrenceville. He also faces the
possibility that the district attorney's office will seize his home.

The corporate bigwig took a leave of absence this week after the bust, and
no one answered his door at his nicely landscaped home on Pineville Road
yesterday.

He also did not return a call to his office seeking comment. His son
declined to comment.

"He's not your garden-variety criminal. This was a very sophisticated
horticultural. . .operation," said Bucks County District Attorney Alan
Rubenstein, who wants to have the three-story home seized. "It's not the
kind of set-up devised overnight."

Goldberg was home at 6 p.m. Saturday when police, acting on a tip and armed
with a search warrant, hit the jackpot when they discovered an attic garden
in his $350,000 home, officials said.

Police who searched the attic carried out 24 3-foot-high pot plants,
growing lights and dehumidifiers. Police seized close to 80 different
pieces of evidence during the search, reports show.

The entire attic level was rigged with lighting, water piping, heat plates
and planters designed to produce "high-quality" marijuana, officials said.

Cops say they also stumbled on a bevy of bongs and pipes that appeared to
have been used.

"It was thousands of dollars worth of equipment," said Rubenstein. "Was it
a hobby? I don't know and can't speculate."

Goldberg, who earned a million dollars last year as CEO and president of
MIIX, a medical liability insurance company, posted $50,000 bail and was
released Saturday, officials said. Edward Francis Weist, who listed
Goldberg's address as his own, also posted bail, officials said.

MIIX Group, a publicly traded company, is one of the largest providers of
medical liability in the United States with operations in 25 states. The
company says it currently has 16,500 clients. The New Jersey state
Department of Insurance says it has had no problems with the company.

This week, the company announced Goldberg will take a leave of absence "for
personal reasons unrelated to his position as CEO of the company." The
company's CFO, Kenneth Koreyva, will act as CEO in the interim, the company
said.

The Medical Society of New Jersey, which established MIIX Group in 1977,
said yesterday it trusts "this company and anticipates that MIIX will
resolve this situation expeditiously."