Two men from Sauk County, Wisconsin, have been sentenced for their involvement in a fentanyl trafficking operation that distributed counterfeit pills in the region. The announcement was made by Chadwick M. Elgersma, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin.
Kenneth O. Phillips, 40, from Wisconsin Dells, received a six-year federal prison sentence on November 21, 2025. He will also serve four years of supervised release after his imprisonment. Phillips pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute fentanyl earlier this year.
Brandon S. Stevens, 44, of Reedsburg, was sentenced on November 20 to one year and one day in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. Stevens also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.
According to investigators, co-defendant Ames Basham mailed parcels containing blue “M30” pills—intended to look like prescription Oxycodone but actually containing fentanyl and other substances—from California to Phillips, Chrystal Mueller (another co-defendant), and Stevens at various addresses in Wisconsin between January and April 2022. Nineteen such parcels were sent during this period. The United States Postal Inspection Service intercepted several packages addressed to the group in March and April and confirmed they contained fentanyl pills.
Phillips was identified as the leader of the local distribution group. He provided mailing addresses for Basham to send drug parcels into Wisconsin. Stevens worked as a mail carrier for the United States Postal Service; he picked up some of these parcels along his route and delivered them directly to his partner Mueller or identified locations where packages could be sent undetected.
At sentencing hearings, Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson described Stevens’s actions as “a gross violation of the trust placed in him as a mail carrier,” noting that while he had less responsibility than others involved, he still played an important role in the operation. Judge Peterson also stated at Phillips’s sentencing that “Phillips was in charge of the group” and emphasized “the dangers of introducing counterfeit OxyContin pills containing fentanyl into the community.”
The investigation found that Phillips was already under state supervision for a previous battery conviction when these offenses occurred.
Co-defendants Ames Basham and Chrystal Mueller have both pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
The case resulted from a joint investigation involving the United States Postal Inspection Service, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, Sauk County Sheriff’s Office, and Wisconsin State Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven P. Anderson prosecuted the case.
Federal prosecutions like this one are part of Operation Take Back America—a nationwide initiative by the U.S. Department of Justice aimed at combating illegal immigration, eliminating cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protecting communities from violent crime perpetrators.
