AUTHORITIES SEIZE LAND OF MAN FACE MARIJUANA CHARGES

MILWAUKEE - An undeveloped plot of land owned by a man facing
marijuana trafficking charges has been seized by the Internal Revenue
Service, which said it was bought with proceeds from drug dealing and
used to grow marijuana.

Documents filed in U.S. District Court said Jerry L. Hartman, 51, of
Waukesha, established Hawkeye Exteriors Inc., and allowed at least
two home repairmen to use the business name.

In exchange, according to the records, the repairmen gave Hartman the
checks they received from customers and he gave them an equal amount
in cash suspected of being marijuana dealing proceeds.

The seizure of the land in the town of Genesee comes as Hartman faces
drug trafficking charges in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

Court records said he was arrested in November when investigators
seized about 40 pounds of marijuana, $204,000 and three vehicles with
the assistance of a self-admitted drug dealer.

When narcotics officers visited the Genesee land four days after
Hartman's arrest, they found the remains of several marijuana plants
still in the ground and holes "where the entire root system had been
torn out of the ground," the court documents said.

Hartman has remained in the Waukesha County Jail in lieu of $250,000
bail on two counts of maintaining a drug trafficking place, two
counts of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and delivery
of marijuana.