Pubdate: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 Source: Florida Times-Union (FL) Copyright: 2003 The Florida Times-Union Contact: http://www.times-union.com/aboutus/letters_to_editor.html Website: http://www.times-union.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/155 Author: Paul Pinkham, Times Union Staff Writer 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." - --- MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPFFlorida)