Date: July 29, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Madison, WI — Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Christopher S. Wilson of Madison, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 5 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl. The prison term will be followed by 4 years of supervised release. Wilson pleaded guilty to this charge on April 11, 2024. The government’s investigation revealed a large-scale drug trafficking organization that was responsible for bringing over 4 kilograms of fentanyl pills into Madison from Arizona. Law enforcement began investigating the organization in January 2022, following the seizure of two mail packages that each contained one kilogram of fentanyl pills (almost 20,000 pills in total). The packages had been mailed by the same individual in Arizona to addresses in Madison. Between March and October 2022, undercover officers purchased fentanyl pills from members of the organization on twenty-three occasions in the Madison area. Wilson was involved in thirteen of those drug sales. In October 2022, another mail package destined for members of the Madison drug organization was seized and found to contain 1.75 kilograms of fentanyl pills. On Nov. 28, 2022, law enforcement officers searched Wilson’s residence. In the home, officers found a loaded Glock .40 caliber handgun, over $5,000 in cash, and a small bag of fentanyl pills. In Wilson’s Jeep, officers found a loaded Glock 9mm handgun under the driver’s seat. At sentencing, Judge Peterson said he was concerned about Wilson’s gun possession at the time he was also fentanyl dealing, which was an aggravating factor. Four co-defendants were previously sentenced by Judge Peterson for their roles in the fentanyl pill trafficking organization. Dejon C. Glover was sentenced on May 16, 2024, to 4 ½ years in federal prison for attempting to possess fentanyl intended for distribution. Lloyd M. McKire-Bennett was sentenced on May 17, 2024, to more than 13 ½ years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and possessing firearms and ammunition as a felon. Deshawn P. Davis was sentenced on May 22, 2024, to 5 ½ years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute fentanyl. Yoshi R. Walker was sentenced on July 24, 2024, to 6 years in federal prison for attempting to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl. Two others were charged in connection with this trafficking organization, Jessica E. Leyvas and Dantrell T. Stevenson. Leyvas has pleaded guilty and her sentencing hearing is yet to be scheduled. Stevenson’s case is scheduled for trial, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The charge against Wilson was the result of an investigation conducted by the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI), U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, and Dane County Narcotics Task Force. The investigation was conducted and funded by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a multiagency task force that coordinates long-term narcotics trafficking investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven P. Anderson prosecuted this case CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
