Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
(Editor’s note: The details alleged in the following narrative are taken from a criminal complaint filed this week in Shawano County Circuit Court and, in some cases, supplemented by court records.)
It is being called one of the largest drug cases ever seen in Shawano County, and part of a web stretching as far as California and encompassing several other states along the way. So far, nine defendants have been charged.
It all began on state Highway 32 in Shawano County on Dec. 5, 2015, when the Wisconsin State Patrol pulled a vehicle over for speeding.
The vehicle was driven by a 30-year-old Krakow woman, who was subsequently found guilty of misdemeanor counts of possession of marijuana and carrying a concealed weapon.
As a result of the traffic stop, drugs, a firearm, $20,000 in currency and the woman’s cellphone were seized.
A search warrant was obtained for the contents of the cellphone, which authorities said indicated significant drug activity by the woman and her fiance.
The evidence taken from the cellphone indicated the couple were engaged in quarter-pound to multi-pound sales and distribution of high-grade marijuana and significant quantities of opiate pills.
Neither of them has been charged with those crimes.
But as a result of that information, an investigation was launched by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigations and the state patrol.
A month after the traffic stop, in what might have seemed an unrelated case, the DCI assisted the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department with a marijuana investigation out of Bonduel.
A confidential informant was able to purchase a quarter-pound of high-grade marijuana from Joshua M. Natzke, 24, of Shawano, one of the nine charged this week as part of an alleged drug trafficking conspiracy. A second purchase netted two more quarter-pounds.
Electronic surveillance of Natzke’s vehicle showed that he made a trip on Jan. 19, 2016, to the home of the Krakow couple. Search warrants were obtained and executed at their residence and Natzke’s.
Eight pounds of marijuana and $3,505 in cash were found at Natzke’s residence.
Video obtained from a closed circuit camera at the Krakow residence showed Natzke delivering marijuana.
Though not yet charged, the Krakow man has been called one of the co-conspirators during court hearings this week.
After the search warrant was executed, the man told authorities he had purchased high-grade marijuana from Calvin W. Berndt, 22, of Stevens Point, and hash oil from Kody P. Hofman, 26, of Bonduel.
The man also told authorities he had learned the source of Berndt’s marijuana was Kody’s father, Daniel P. Hofman, 52, of Bonduel.
All three were charged this week in the drug trafficking conspiracy case.
In January 2016, the DCI was called in to assist a separate investigation by the Minneapolis Drug Enforcement Administration task force into Daniel Hofman. That investigation began with the Nebraska State Patrol, which alerted Minneapolis authorities to a tip from a truck driver about a van, which he was hauling from California to Minnesota, that he suspected was carrying “a dirty load.”
Nebraska authorities met with the truck driver and found about 100 pounds of marijuana in the van. The truck and its trailer were delivered to Minneapolis police for a controlled delivery of the van, at which time three people were arrested.
A search warrant was obtained for a cellphone belonging to one of the three. The phone included numerous messages from Daniel Hofman to the cellphone owner discussing marijuana delivery and instructions regarding the van that would be arriving.
The DCI and Shawano County investigators then obtained cellphone records from Daniel Hofman’s cellphone, which indicated Hofman had made numerous trips to California.
The investigation, which included search warrants of Hofman’s residence, phone texts and Facebook messages, subsequently linked him directly or indirectly to eight other parties charged this week as part of the drug trafficking conspiracy.