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His storyBugs told the vice officers he had been on the Schiffbauer and Tegcder properties and had seen the marijuana operation.According to Green, Bugs’ story was that marijuana was routinely moving from Mills County into Omaha, where it was bought by a prime mover, or Mr, Big, who then shipped it to points all over the Midwest.Green says the Omaha officers revealed the operation to Mills County authorities on Sept. 9, and plans were put in motion to carry out the raid. The Omaha officers, he says, asked that no arrests be made in Mills County until lawmen in Omaha had arrested the big boys in Omaha.It was all to come down around a delivery that was allegedly to be made on the evening of Sept. 10, a Friday.Tegeder says that deal was cut between him and Bugs “We never really wanted anything to do with the guy,” Tegeder says “But he kept calling and calling. He showed us why he has that nickname . . he never quitsbugging you. 'Freeze!' and my only thought was That f - Bugs!*' he says*lHack dogs’Bugs supposedly warned the officers that there were snipers nests on both Mills County properties, and that there were attack dogs at both places “The snipers nests.’ “ says Fitzpatrick. “were a deer stand Tegeder hadbuilt for hunting and a tree house Gary had built for the kids Tegeder says his “attack dogs — a Doberman and a German shepherd “are watch dogs They’ll watch youuralk iin anH fakp pvervthinff nn mvTerri Schiffbauer and Jack Fitzpatrick were arrested, while Fitzpatrick's lO-year old daughter screamed “I heard her yelling Daddy. Daddy. Daddy,' he says “It really freaki^ me out 'The searches went on at both properties Large supplies of marijuana were confiscated, along with assorted drug paraphernalia, guns and other property. Green says the Omaha cops said the marijuana might have a total “wholesale value as high as 1200,000.Says Green i don't defend or apologize for the number of offii'ers we used, or the way they were armed We went- on what the informant had advised us we might run into“Just imagine that we'd sent a handful of officers out there, and it turned into a big shootout Then people would be asking why we went in like rookies when we had all that advance warning. We did confiscate a lot of guns out there, remember, so the potential was there for trouble, even though, as It turned out, there wasn't any• IShfriH’s Vi**.Says Sheriff Brown We did everything according to coil (sio 1 know that anytime you've got a large force, you’ve always got the possibility of somebody getting jumpy “But I knew all our guys I looked them in the face and watched close to see if anyone was getting too jittery We don't have the experience at this kind of thing that you'll find in met ropolitan areas, but 1 think we hadin college and never did get stoned Smith says the marijuana laws “are wrong from the 'git-go.' and they will be changed, and soon ‘The foundation of the theory that the Mills County marijuana factory was producing for a Mr Big’’ in Omaha cracked.. Green says, when bricks of marijuana confiscated in the Omaha raid failed to fit the compacting machine used hereThe two Omaha men who were arrested there - brothers Ronald and James Francis - were charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell, but have nut yet been tried, according to assistant Douglas County Attorney Tom Brown.Brown says the one link he's aware jf between the Francis brothers and the Mills County rdid is that the name of one of the brothers appears in an address book confiscated from GarySchiffbauer “Of course, it's one nameamong 20 or 30 in the b*x)k. the Omaha prosecutor says Schiffbauer acknowledges he knows the Francis brothers socially, but says' their only link to the Mills County bust IS that the Francises and us were all set up by the same informant Bugs Nevertheless, Green says he s “still convinced that the Omaha connection existed But even if it didn't, we still had enough marijuana being processed here in the county to make the raid worth It ■Sheriff Brown says he is not surprised over what happened in court I'm pretty calloused to court decisions,’ he says “My job is to getthfm th(4r*lt; anri wh;il I Hid
Newspaper Details
Des Moines Register
Des Moines, Iowa, US
Sun, Dec 12, 1976
Page 93
Full Page
Clipped by
Council B.
IA, USA 09 Jul 2018
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