[420 Girl]

A jury may have to decide whether Allen L. Oleson will lose his house, valued at $87,500, in a civil forfeiture lawsuit filed in federal court after a authorities found what they said is a marijuana-growing operation in his town of Hansen residence.

According to documents filed in court:

A first-floor room with black paper covering the windows, heavy duty grow lights, a plant watering system, a heat fan, fertilizer, cardboard pots, plus 28 ounces of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and marijuana stalks were found when Central Wisconsin Drug Taskforce members executed a Dec. 9, 2005, search of Oleson's 7199 Grant Rd. residence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman filed the forfeiture action against Oleson in December 2005 as federal law allows the government to seize assets used in commission of drug crimes. While that suit has stalled in federal court, Oleson plead no contest in March 2007 in Wood County Circuit Court to maintaining a drug house and possession of THC. He was placed on five years probation with 60 days in jail.

Efforts to contact Oleson and his about-to-be-discharged attorney Greg Dutch were unsuccessful.

Oleson has vigorously contested the seizure of his house. In an affidavit, Oleson admits to smoking marijuana but denies that his house was used to grow marijuana in quantities that would make it subject to seizure under federal law.

Oleson insists items authorities claim were used to cultivate marijuana were used to grow "cranberry tissue culture." He also used those items to start plants he would later replant outdoors.

In her response, Altman wrote while his grow lights and other items could be put to legitimate use, when looked at in "totality ... the evidence can only lead to one conclusion -- the defendant property was used to commit or to facilitate the commission of a violation of ( federal law )."

The now 2 1/2-year-old forfeiture case has been stalled by District Judge Barbara Crabb's refusal to appoint Oleson an attorney. Oleson is ready to dismiss Dutch and has asked Crabb to grant his request as communication "has completely broken down" between them.

A trial is set for February 2010.

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