Approximately 100 grams of fentanyl, a potent and highly addictive synthetic opioid, were distributed in Oneida County on at least three occasions in March and April, according to criminal complaints filed in Oneida County Circuit Court detailing an investigation that led to the arrest of seven individuals on felony charges.
Five Rhinelander residents and a Chicago man are facing felony charges in connection with an alleged conspiracy to distribute the drug in the Northwoods, the Oneida County sheriff’s office announced Wednesday.
The defendants are Jerome M. Brisby, 40, of Chicago, Lance E. Reinke, 36, Joseph LaPuma, 29, Ryan Nest, 40, Lisa Hooper, 38, and Desiree McGinnity, 21, all of Rhinelander.
A sixth Rhinelander resident, Zane Olsen, 27, has been charged with possession of fentanyl with intent (as party to the crime).
The arrests are the result of a joint investigation conducted by the Northcentral Drug Enforcement Group Task Force (NORDEG), the Wisconsin Department of Justice-Division of Criminal Investigation and the Oneida County sheriff’s office, according to a press release issued by sheriff’s captain Bob Hebein.
An overdose death investigation in a different Northwoods county provided authorities with information that led them to uncover the alleged conspiracy involving the Rhinelander residents, according to a summary of the investigation included in the complaints.
According to the summary, in the course of the overdose death investigation authorities learned that a particular phone number was linked to fentanyl deliveries. An investigator then searched for the phone number in the Department of Corrections prison phone system for calls to inmates. Through that search, investigators learned that a person using that number had been communicating with Reinke, who is incarcerated at the New Lisbon Correctional Facility.
A review of recorded phone calls, letters and other evidence obtained via surveillance techniques, led investigators to conclude that Brisby was transporting fentanyl from Chicago and collaborating with Reinke to distribute it in northern Wisconsin using LaPuma, Nest, Hooper and McGinnity, according to the summary.
In the summary, prosecutors allege that Reinke would coordinate with Brisby to plan trips from Chicago to Wisconsin so that Brisby could supply the other alleged conspirators with fentanyl to sell. The fentanyl would be divided into three smaller amounts (approximately 33 grams each) which LaPuma, Nest, Hooper and McGinnity would sell to customers in Oneida County, the complaints state. Brisby would be paid via digital transfer and Reinke would receive funds through his prison commissary account, investigators allege.
Brisby is being held in the county jail in lieu of $250,000 cash bail. Bail for codefendants LaPuma, Nest, Hooper and McGinnity was set at $100,000 cash. Reinke’s bail is also $100,000 cash though he remains incarcerated on an unrelated case.
A $10,000 cash bond was set in Olsen’s case.
During Brisby’s initial appearance on Thursday afternoon, assistant district attorney Ben Meyer described the Chicago resident as the “principal supplier” of the fentanyl the co-conspirators are accused of selling to Northwoods residents.
“All of the codefendants are branches on the tree, as it were,” Meyer explained, before recommending that Judge Mike Schiek set Brisby's bail in an amount in excess of the $100,000 set in the other cases.
When asked if he wished to address the subject of bond, Brisby stated he didn’t understand why he was taken into custody.
“I have no idea what’s going on here,” he said. “I have no idea why I’m being charged.”
Schiek responded by advising Brisby that the state’s theory of the case is detailed in the criminal complaint shared with him before the case was called. While stressing that the allegations included in the complaint are merely accusations, the court noted that the state has set forth what “seems to be a very strong case.”
All of the defendants, except Olson, are due back in court on July 28.
If convicted of the Class C felony, they face a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and up to 15 years extended supervision.
“Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug and is often responsible for both fatal and non-fatal overdoses,” sheriff’s officials explained in the press release announcing the bust. “Recent trends have shown that fentanyl is being mixed with other illicit drugs to increase the potency.”
According to the release, the Rhinelander Police Department, Wisconsin State Patrol, Portage County Sheriff’s Office, Marathon County Sheriff’s Office, Central Wisconsin Narcotics Task Force, and Waushara County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the investigation.
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