2 PAROLE AGENTS FACE DRUG CHARGES

Two state parole agents are each facing up to nearly two years behind
bars and a $15,000 fine after an all-night party last year on Madison's
Far East Side in which prosecutors say they bought and used cocaine
with three men, including one who was on probation at the time.

Paul N. Marx, 27, of Marshall, and Bobbi J. Knar, 24, of Sun Prairie
were charged Friday with possession of cocaine and obstructing an
officer. They are to appear Monday in Dane County Circuit Court on the
charges, which are both misdemeanors.

According to the 11-page complaint, police learned about the party --
allegedly held in May 2006 at the Meadows apartments at 229 Swanton
Road -- from John C. Bleich in July 2006.

Bleich, who was being held at the Dane County Jail when he spoke to
police and now is in state prison, told Madison Detective Kevin
Linsmeier that he was house-sitting at a friend 's apartment when Knar
and Marx arrived about 10 p.m. May 25 with Michael Bishop, who was a
friend of Bleich 's, and a man identified as Brian Miller.

Bleich, who was on probation at the time, said he didn 't know at
first that Knar and Marx were agents but started asking questions when
Bishop said to him, "Dude, you 'll never guess what they do. "

Bleich said he also heard Knar and Marx talking shop, with Knar at one
point telling Marx that she had "had a long day at work and was
exhausted and had (done) a PSI that day, " a reference to a
pre-sentence investigation that agents help compile before an offender
is sentenced. Bleich said he then asked Knar if she was a probation
agent and she nodded yes, he said.

During the party, Bleich told police, he and the others played poker,
drank whiskey and beer, and snorted cocaine, starting with small
amounts that Miller, Bishop and Marx each produced from plastic
baggies at different times.

'Sun coming out '

Around 2 a.m., the complaint said, when the drugs had run out, the
five pooled their money to have a larger amount of cocaine, known as
an eight-ball, delivered by a dealer they called to the apartment. The
dealer showed up, police said, while Marx and Knar had briefly left
the apartment to get cash from an ATM, returning five or 10 minutes
later.

According to the complaint, "during the early morning hours, with the
sun coming out, " Bleich received a text message from another dealer,
who showed up about 7:30 a.m. on May 26 to deliver a final eight-ball
of cocaine, which the five then divided up and smoked or snorted.

It was about that time, the complaint said, that Marx and Knar decided
they were in no shape for work that day -- a Friday -- and used their
cell phones to call in sick.

Bleich told police he also heard Knar tell Marx that she was supposed
to release a client of hers from probation that Friday, but Marx
replied with something like, "(Expletive) it, he can wait until after
the weekend. "

State Department of Corrections spokesman John Dipko said Knar and
Marx have been on paid leave since Aug. 10 pending the outcome of an
internal investigation. He said Knar has been an agent since August
2005 and Marx has been an agent since June 2002.

His 'cover agent '

Early on the night of the party, Bleich and Knar discovered they had a
connection, according to the complaint.

Knar asked Bleich if he was "on paper, " slang for being on probation.
He answered yes and said he was being supervised by agent Mark
Peterson. Knar replied she worked "right across the hall " from
Peterson at the probation office on Badger Road.

Police investigating the party later learned from Peterson that Knar
was his "cover agent, " meaning she was responsible for supervising
his clients when he was gone. Peterson told police he took a vacation
on June 16, 2006, and when he returned June 26 -- about a month after
the party -- he learned that Knar and other agents had been
considering recommending that Bleich, who was arrested on June 16 on
unrelated charges, be released from the county jail.

But Peterson, who didn 't know about the party, said he opposed the
release because of circumstances involving Bleich 's new cases.

It was about a month after that, on July 17, 2006, that Bleich, still
being held at the jail, asked to speak to a narcotics detective and
told Linsmeier about the party and the alleged drug use. Subsequent
interviews with Bishop and Miller produced similar accounts of the
evening, according to information in the complaint.

In interviews with police in April 2007, Knar and Marx separately
acknowledged being at the party and drinking heavily but denied doing
any drugs there or anywhere else.

Marx, however, said he witnessed Knar snorting a line of cocaine about
a month before the party in the men 's bathroom at the Dry Bean Saloon
in Fitchburg. He later admitted he snorted a line with her at that
time and also ingested cocaine once before, about two years ago, the
complaint said.

Dipko said Bleich will remain at Jackson Correctional Institute until
December 2009 on unrelated theft and drug convictions. He went to
prison in October 2006.