Target for the next “Big Dig”

America Online is prepared to take a backhoe to a Medfield couple’s yard in a search for as much as $500,000 in hidden gold and platinum bars it believes may have been buried there by their neo-Nazi son who made millions off of Internet spam scams.

AOL, the giant Internet provider, said it’s only trying to collect ill-gotten assets from Davis Wolfgang Hawke, a former Westwood High School graduate-turned-neo-Nazi cyber con artist.

AOL is determined to recover a $13 million settlement that it was awarded last year by a federal court in a civil lawsuit against Hawke and his spammer cohorts. AOL said it believes there may be gold and platinum bars on Hawkes’ parents’ Medfield property or on his grandparents’ property in Westwood.

Published reports have said Hawke may have purchased as much as $500,000 in gold bars from the millions he raised. AOL wouldn’t confirm that number, but [AOL’s Nicholas] Graham said it does have receipts proving Hawke routinely purchased gold and platinum.

Rumors in the neighborhood say Hawke buried his gold in New Hampshire’s White Mountains while on “camping” trips. No doubt the trails will be jammed with folks carrying metal detectors for weeks!