Former UW student pleads to role in moving hundreds of pounds of weed

Kevin Murphy
Correspondent for The Capital Times  —  8/12/2008 8:19 am

A former Madison man in the middle of a marijuana sales network that moved at least one ton of pot between 2000 and July 2003 pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to conspiring to distribute a controlled substance with a second man who's suspected of involvement in an unsolved murder.

Brian Hutchinson, now of Fontana, Wis., was a UW-Madison student in August 2000 when he moved into a house on Wingra Avenue shared with the second man, Reed Rogala, who was already heavily involved in marijuana trafficking, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber.

Rogala had a source in New York state who sent him 90 to 100 pounds of marijuana every two or three weeks mainly during the fall and winter months. At first Hutchinson bought small amounts of marijuana from Rogala but then began to take up to 30 pounds of each shipment and sell it, Graber said.

Rogala moved to Vermont in 2001, but kept his Madison customer base by having marijuana sent to Hutchinson, and by flying to Madison where Rogala met his drivers and took the rest of the load to his second main customer in Madison, Graber said.

Hutchinson left Madison in 2003, "leaving a lot of money behind," said his attorney Jordan Loeb, moved to Portland, Ore., and began delivering for an organic grocery store.

Hutchinson admitted to District Judge Barbara Crabb that he bought marijuana from Rogala beginning in 2000 and sold it to several customers in the Madison area.

While Hutchinson was charged with delivery of 100 kilograms or more of marijuana, co-conspirator Rogala, 32, of South Orange, N.J. was charged this year in federal court with conspiring to distribute 2,200 pounds or more of marijuana.

Rogala pleaded guilty in June to a marijuana conspiracy charge and struck a deal with the government to cooperate in its investigation into the conspiracy. While the government agreed not to directly use any of Rogala's statements against him in the marijuana case, it excluded any information he reveals regarding the murder of Amos Mortier, of Fitchburg.

Mortier vanished on Nov. 8, 2004, the date Rogala's indictment states the marijuana conspiracy ended. There are no statements in public court documents that link Hutchinson to Mortier's murder and little in Rogala's except the brief mention in Rogala's plea agreement, which was executed in December but not filed with the court until June 12.

Hutchinson struck a plea deal in November and has cooperated with the government ever since, even flying back to Madison for debriefing sessions, said Graber.

Crabb cited Hutchinson's cooperation in deciding to exempt him from mandatory detention prior to his sentencing on Nov. 29. Hutchinson faces five to 40 years in prison.

Rogala is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 4. He faces a minimum of 10 years in prison and has agreed to a $100,000 fine.

Kevin Murphy
Correspondent for The Capital Times  —  8/12/2008 8:19 am