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MEDFIELD (CBS4) ― A real treasure hunt is about to get underway in Medfield. It involves internet giant AOL, a notorious spammer, and gold and platinum bars.

AOL believes a man stashed his loot on his parents' property in Medfield, a fortune the company is owed as part of a multi-million dollar settlement.

So armed with a court order from a Virginia judge, AOL plans to search the two acre property at 125 Philip Street in Medfield. The company is also looking to search near his grandparents' home in Westwood.

To be exact, AOL will be digging for $500,000 in gold and platinum bars.

27 year-old David Wolfgang Hawke owes AOL that treasure as part of a $12.8 million dollar judgment. AOL sued and won the whopper judgment against Hawke for burying unsuspecting AOL customers in mountains of unwanted spam emails. Millions of them were pornographic. But since that verdict came down, AOL has been unable to contact Hawke to collect any of the money he was ordered to pay.

Hawke grew up in nearby Westwood, graduating high school in 1996. In college, he belonged to a neo-Nazi group, then dropped out of school, changed his name to David Wolfgang Hawke, and made a fortune in the internet spamming business.

Now AOL plans to try and recover what they are owed, by digging in the yard of Hawke's parents.

"In some ways this whole thing is ridiculous; in another sense it's funny," said his father Hyman Greenbaum. "But it is annoying also."

"I think he probably did some spamming," Greenbaum said of his son. "I don't know that for sure, but he probably did."

But Greenbaum says he and his wife haven't seen their son in more than a year. "He told us he was going to hide his assets and disappear, and he appears to have done that."

AOL has receipts showing Hawke bought the gold and platinum and has convinced a judge it might well be buried in Medfield.

"This exercise isn't something out of ... 'Treasure Island.' This is a court-directed, judge-approved legal process that is simply aimed at responsibly recovering hidden assets," said AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham.

"We know this individual went out and proactively purchased gold bullions and platinum, we believe in an effort to hide those assets and funds he collected off the backs of AOL members who are victims in this legal proceeding."

AOL said if they successfully collect the money they are owed, the company would use the money for anti-spam and anti-spyware.

But they won't get that money without another legal fight. Greenbaum is vowing a battle before the backhoes and bulldozers move into his yard. Fortunately, he's been able to keep a sense of humor about the situation.

"If they find something on my property and they can't prove that it belongs to my son, then it by default belongs to me," Greenbaum said. "So if they hit oil, I'll put up a gas station or something."

Hawke's ex-girlfriend, Patricia Lingenfelter, told investigators he confided to her that he had once buried cash in his mother's garden, but worried it would be damaged by water. She called Hawke "fundamentally lazy" and said she believes he likely buried gold on the property owned by his parents and grandparents, according to court records unsealed Wednesday in the case.

She said he regularly left alone on overnight hiking trips carrying a fireproof safe and shovel, but he never confided where he buried his loot.

"I would ask him and then he would give me the same thing. 'It's none of your business. It's mine,"' she said.

In court papers, Hawke's grandfather told AOL's lawyers, "I have no interest in helping people find him." But Robert J. Davis said he knew nothing about any gold buried on his land. He described his grandson as highly intelligent but allowed he was "maybe not great on common sense."

Greenbaum said the family believes Hawke buried gold in the White Mountains 130 miles north of Boston.

(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)