Meth dealer sentenced following investigation by Plover, Wis. Rapids police
By Brandi Makuski
A Wisconsin Rapids man has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for trafficking more than 50 grams of methamphetamine.
David Shamont Lindsey, 38, was being prosecuted in the Western District of Wisconsin. He pleaded guilty in January.
Law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin Rapids and Plover worked with state and federal law enforcement for several months and ultimately determined that Lindsey had “distributed substantial amounts of methamphetamine in the Wisconsin Rapids area for a number of years.”
In May 2019, Lindsey was also recorded by law enforcement delivering almost four ounces of methamphetamine to a customer in Plover.
In August 2019, Lindsey was stopped by the Utah Highway Patrol as he was returning to Wisconsin from the West Coast, carrying six-and-a-half pounds of methamphetamine concealed in a large PVC tube hidden in his car. Lindsey intended to distribute the methamphetamine in Wisconsin, according to the criminal complaint.
U.S. District Judge William M. Conley said that 12 years was a reasonable and necessary sentence considering that Lindsey was a “major drug trafficker in the Wisconsin Rapids area” instead of engaging in lawful employment.
Conley said despite Lindsey’s previous criminal convictions, this would be the first “meaningful prison term” for his conduct, adding that an aggravating factor considered by the court was Lindsey’s “purposeful submission of false affidavits and information to the court when attempting to influence the court’s decision on pretrial motions raised by Lindsey who represented himself.”
The Central Wisconsin Drug Task Force is a network of 15 law enforcement agencies spread across eight counties—including Portage—funded in part with federal grants and administered through the state.
Also assisting with the investigation were the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, the Utah Highway Patrol, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
“He was a major dealer for a long time, Assistant Chief [Brian] Noel and the Task Force put in a lot of work to get him off the streets,” said Plover Police Chief Ryan Fox.
