PHOTO: Brown County Jail
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The City of Green Bay filed suit against Stephen Preisler – also known as “Uncle Fester” – seeking to have a court declare his Baird Street home as a public nuisance, and possibly order it to be torn down.
Preisler, a Green Bay author known best as “Uncle Fester” for his books on how to make ricin, methamphetamine, and other drugs, was arrested and re-booked at the Brown County Jail on Tuesday. He was already facing eight drug-related charges, including four counts of manufacture or delivery of amphetamine, as well as one count each of possession with intent to deliver cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, possess methamphetamine precursors and maintaining a drug trafficking house. He had posted bond before being taken into custody Tuesday.
He could appear in court Wednesday on the criminal case.
As for the civil case filed by the city, it was filed Tuesday concerning the home at 826 S. Baird Street.
The lawsuit says Preisler attended a meeting in September 2021, after the city declared the property a “chronic nuisance.” He attended a meeting outlining ways to remove that designation. But, not enough has been done, the suit alleges.
“Defendant has not made any appreciable efforts to abate the chronic nuisance since September 2021 and the Property continues to be the subject of the nuisance abatement matter to date. Between September 29, 2021 and July 1, 2023, the Green Bay Police Department responded to over 60 police calls associated with the Property. The Department has received numerous calls from neighbors concerned with the effect that the drug-related activities occurring on the Property has had and continues to have on their own properties and on the neighborhood generally,” states the motion filed by Assistant City Attorney Lindsay Mather.
So far in 2023, the city has charged Preisler $12,097.64 for police services related to the chronic nuisance designation.
Although the city condemned the property, multiple people have been entering the residence since Preisler’s arrest – including Preisler, who used a ladder to gain access through a second-floor window.
The city asks the court to take multiple actions, including ordering the closure of the property, and removal of all personal items. The city also wants an order which “Authorizes either the sale of the Property and Residence or the razing of the buildings on the Property, the sale of the land, and the collection of the expense of razing as authorized under (state law).”
The lawsuit also includes affidavits from a drug investigator and housing inspector describing the history of the property.
Preisler has not responded to the lawsuit.
No hearings have been scheduled.
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