PRESS CONFERENCE FEATURES BALES OF SEIZED MARIJUANA

Two People Have Been Charged In What Is Believed To Be The Biggest Pot
Seizure Ever In Western Wisconsin.

Bales of marijuana, varying in size from a brick to a hay bale wrapped in
plastic, were center stage Friday at a Madison press conference called by
U.S. Attorney J.B. Van Hollen.

Two people have been charged in federal court with conspiracy to possess
with intent to distribute marijuana in what authorities believe was the
biggest pot seizure in western Wisconsin, Van Hollen said.

Charged are Ralph Manuel Villegas, 48, of El Paso, Texas; and Gale Francis
Kleman, 50, of Sleepy Eye, Minn.

Both appeared in U.S. District Court in Madison Friday and asked for the
appointment of an attorney. Both are being held in federal custody. No
further court appearances have been set.

Some 650 pounds of marijuana from Mexico was seized Thursday by federal
agents and La Crosse police in a Holmen warehouse used by a painting
contractor.

Authorities say it could put a huge dent in the source of marijuana coming
into the area.

"The biggest impact will be on users in Minnesota where the shipment was
destined," said Jeanne Hehr, resident agent for the Drug Enforcement
Administration in Madison. "It will also have an impact on La Crosse
because the shipment point is now closed down."

According to Van Hollen, the pot seized has an estimated street value of
$1,000 per pound. He called it "very pure" by the tests conducted by the DEA.

He said other arrests could result from the raid on the Mississippi Valley
Coating Co. warehouse on North Star Road in the village of Holmen, just
north of La Crosse.

Villegas, according to Hehr, was arrested Thursday afternoon at the
warehouse after he finished inventorying the marijuana and marking the
bales that had been delivered there by undercover DEA and customs agents.
The shipment arrived at the warehouse by semitruck at 6 a.m., she said.

Hehr said agents believe that more than 10,000 pounds of marijuana passed
through the Holmen warehouse over the past five years.

The warehouse is owned or rented by Jeffrey Laufle, who was to receive the
marijuana, Hehr said. Laufle was arrested Thursday but not yet formally
charged.

Laufle told investigators he had been receiving marijuana from a source in
New Mexico since 1999, Van Hollen said. Laufle said he kept the shipments
until they were transported by Kleman for distribution in Minnesota. He
said he sometimes delivered the marijuana to Kleman in Minnesota for an
extra $1,000.

Hehr said most of the marijuana going through the La Crosse outlet was
being sold in Minnesota, but the DEA was looking into other possible
distribution sites around the state.

She said the DEA in Madison was tipped to the shipment in May by a DEA
agent in New Mexico, who had an informant who reported delivering large
amounts of marijuana to a warehouse in La Crosse.

The informant reported making five to six deliveries in 1998, five to six
in 1999 and four each in 2000 and 2001. The informant told the DEA the
deliveries were usually 500 to 800 pounds each.