WEST BEND POLICE COLLAR MAN ALLEGEDLY SELLING 3 POUNDS OF POT

20-Year-Old Could Get 11 Years In Prison

Bust Is Biggest This Year, Police Say

West Bend - A 20-year-old Hartland man faces up to 11 years in prison
after allegedly arranging to sell three pounds of marijuana to an
undercover officer in the largest drug seizure of the year by
Washington County's special drug enforcement group.

Christopher J. Cornell was charged Thursday with two counts of
delivering marijuana and one charge of a possession with intent to
deliver.

"It is the largest single buy we've had this year," said Lt. John
Buck, who heads the Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Group.

Buck said Cornell told an undercover officer, "Whatever you want, I
can get."

Cornell allegedly had sold officers marijuana twice before his arrest
Wednesday.

On July 21, an undercover officer met Cornell in the Town of
Richfield. The officer allegedly paid Cornell $575 for about 7 ounces
of marijuana and arranged another buy a few days later.

Nine days later, the officer and Cornell met in the Town of Hartford.
The officer allegedly paid Cornell $280 for almost four ounces of marijuana.

Cornell allegedly agreed to sell the officer three pounds of marijuana
on Wednesday for $3,000.

"It would have had a street value of $5,000," Buck
said.

During the investigation, a Waukesha County drug enforcement group
helped search both Cornell's home and that of a North Lake man who was
thought to be involved.

Officers confiscated another pound of a marijuana at the North Lake
home, according to Buck.

"We believe (the man) was either Cornell's supplier or partner," Buck
said.

Charges were not filed in Washington County against the North Lake
man, and it was not clear whether charges were pending in Waukesha
County.

"There was no grow operation discovered, so we believe that they were
getting the marijuana from someplace else," Buck said.

Cornell was released on a $5,000 signature bond and a Sept. 3 court
date was set.

In the past two years, the drug unit has seized large amounts of
marijuana on several occasions.

In 1998, the unit confiscated 18.8 pounds of marijuana, which included
28 plants taken from people growing the plant for sale.

In 1997, the drug unit confiscated about 20 pounds of marijuana,
including 13 pounds that were the result of two cases.

Terry M. Feypel was convicted in June 1998 after officers found 10
pounds of marijuana in a storage unit rented by Feypel in 1997.

Roger W. Hubbard was sentenced to four years in prison in January 1998
after three pounds of marijuana was found at his home in September
1997.

Buck said that although the unit has seized larger quantities of
marijuana, the purchase Wednesday was one the largest single buys the
group has arranged.