INVENTOR GETS 70 MONTHS FOR POT

State Reconsiders Fraud Investigation

A St. Augustine inventor accused of scamming millions from investors
was sentenced yesterday to nearly six years in prison for growing
marijuana in Putnam County.

That may not be enough prison time for state prosecutors to call off a
fraud investigation.

Madison Priest, 48, was arrested in November after selling an
undercover officer a pound of high-grade marijuana and two assault
rifles outside an East Palatka warehouse. Inside, police found more
than 1,000 marijuana plants and seedlings worth $5 million.

At the time of his arrest, state investigators were looking into
allegations that Priest swindled more than $6 million from investors
in a technology he said could transform ordinary phone wires into
high-speed Internet and video data lines. That probe ended temporarily
when Priest pleaded guilty in February to the marijuana and firearms
charges, but Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Luis Bustamante said
yesterday that state officials continue to look into reopening the
fraud investigation.

"We thought that it was going to be a 10-year sentence," Bustamante
said. Investors in Priest's supposed technology included Blockbuster
and the son of media mogul Ted Turner.

Priest told U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan yesterday he
regretted his actions.

"I'll spend the rest of my life compensating for it," he said. "I
should have simply walked away from it, and I didn't."

Corrigan then sentenced him to 70 months in prison, followed by five
years on probation to include mental health counseling. The judge also
ordered forfeiture of more than 70 guns, $2,300 cash and Priest's
pickup truck to the government.

Priest was originally scheduled to be sentenced in May, but Corrigan
delayed the hearing because he questioned the fairness of a
prosecutor's request to give Priest half as much time as his partner
in a marijuana-growing enterprise.

At the hearing in May, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Gerstein asked
Corrigan for the reduction in Priest's sentence because he helped
police catch his marijuana growing partner, Christopher M. Barley of
Jacksonville. Gerstein said Priest called Barley to the warehouse,
where he was arrested.

Corrigan sentenced Barley yesterday to 33 months in prison after he
and his family pleaded for mercy. Barley told Corrigan he was out of
work with a broken hand when he met Priest through Priest's son. The
inventor knew Barley's family was facing financial struggles.

"At the time," Barley said, "I saw that as an answer to my
problems."

Barley has cooperated with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office on
undercover marijuana purchases, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Savell
said.

Priest's attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Maurice Grant, conceded
his client was the motivating factor behind the indoor marijuana
growing operation but said he couldn't have accomplished it without
Barley's know-how. Some of the plants in the warehouse came from
Barley's house, Grant said.

"This was not a situation where Mr. Barley was led astray by Mr.
Priest," Grant said. "Mr. Priest is a businessman ... who was looking
for a profit. ... He accelerated Mr. Barley's activities because he
had the money to pay for it."