Two Sauk County Men Sentenced for Roles in Fentanyl Trafficking Organization

MADISON, WIS. – Chadwick M. Elgersma, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that in separate sentencings, two men have been sentenced for their roles in a fentanyl pill trafficking group operating in Sauk County and surrounding areas.

Kenneth O. Phillips, 40, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, was sentenced on Friday, November 21, 2025, by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to six years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute fentanyl. The prison term will be followed by four years of supervised release. Phillips pleaded guilty to this charge on September 5, 2025.

Brandon S. Stevens, 44, Reedsburg, Wisconsin, was sentenced November 20 by Judge Peterson to one year and one day in federal prison for conspiring to distribute fentanyl. The prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release. Stevens pleaded guilty to this charge on September 4, 2025.

The investigation revealed that a co-defendant, Ames Basham, was mailing parcels containing fentanyl pills from California to Kenneth Phillips, another co-defendant Chrystal Mueller, and Brandon Stevens at various addresses in Wisconsin for local distribution. The pills were blue and marked “M30,” which should have been prescription Oxycodone pills. In fact, the pills contained fentanyl and other substances. Nineteen parcels of fentanyl pills were mailed from California to Wisconsin between January and April 2022. The USPIS intercepted parcels addressed to Phillips, Mueller, and Stevens in March and April and found they contained fentanyl pills.

Phillips was identified as the local leader of the group. He provided addresses to Basham, who in turn mailed the drug laden parcels to Wisconsin. Stevens worked for the United States Postal Service as a mail carrier and would pick up parcels mailed by Basham that were on his route and bring them to his partner, Mueller. He also identified an abandoned residence on his mail route where drug parcels could be mailed. Phillips and Mueller sold the fentanyl pills locally.

At the time of these offenses, Phillips was on state supervision for a battery conviction.

At Stevens’s sentencing, Judge Peterson noted that while Stevens was the least culpable of the group, he played a significant role in the drug trafficking and his conduct was a gross violation of the trust placed in him as a mail carrier.

At Phillips’s sentencing, Judge Peterson found that Phillips was in charge of the group and noted that the crime was very serious because of the dangers of introducing counterfeit OxyContin pills containing fentanyl into the community.

Two others were charged in connection with this drug trafficking conspiracy. Co-defendants Ames Basham and Chrystal Mueller have both pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in the coming months.

The charges against Stevens and Phillips are the result of an investigation conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office, and the Wisconsin State Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven P. Anderson prosecuted this case.

Federal prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice involving drugs and guns are part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Operation Take Back America. Operation Take Back America is a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.