Superior, Wisconsin, Woman Sentenced For Assaulting Another Woman In Retaliation For Being A Government Witness

MINNEAPOLIS—Yesterday in federal court, a 23-year-old inmate was sentenced for retaliating against another inmate for being a government witness in a drug-trafficking trial. On July 23, 2013, United States District Court Judge David S. Doty sentenced Veronique Zsa zsa Antique Muckle to 121 months in prison on one count of federal witness retaliation. Muckle was indicted on September 11, 2012, and was convicted on April 12, 2013.

According to the indictment and evidence presented at trial, Muckle assaulted Angelique Michelle Vos on August 14, 2012, following Vos’ return to the Sherburne County Jail, after Vos testified as a government witness during a narcotics trial of Lawrence Lalonde Colton. Muckle, Vos, and more than three dozen others pleaded guilty for their roles in a large-scale drug-trafficking organization that transported prescription pills and heroin from Detroit to the Twin Ports region in Minnesota. In September 2011, the organization was brought down after it was investigated by the Lake Superior Drug and Violent Crime Task Force and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”).

Beginning on August 12, 2012, Colton was on trial for his role in the drug-trafficking activity. At the time, Muckle and Vos were held separately in the Sherburne County Jail. Muckle was already sentenced to 52 months in prison for her participation in the original drug conspiracy, and was awaiting placement in the federal prison system. When Vos returned from federal court on August 14, 2012, Muckle ran from a segregated area of the facility and violently attacked Vos for testifying against Colton earlier that day. Colton was later convicted.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office, the Lake Superior Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, the Duluth Police Department, and the ATF. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Allen A. Slaughter and Amber M. Brennan.