Oshkosh man sentenced to prison for distributing 'tremendous amount' of meth locally and in central Wisconsin
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MADISON – An Oshkosh man has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison after he was convicted of selling methamphetamine to dealers from Oshkosh and Stevens Point after receiving the drugs in the mail.
Authorities said they confiscated 16 pounds of meth during the investigation.
Cory Freyermuth, 39, was sentenced this week by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson in Madison to 8½ years for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and money laundering. Freyermuth pleaded guilty to those charges in January.
Local and federal drug investigators discovered that co-defendants Levi Bagne and Krista Sparks routinely mailed packages containing methamphetamine from Arizona to Freyermuth in Oshkosh, according to U.S. attorney Timothy M. O’Shea.
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Bagne would then drive to Oshkosh from Arizona and personally distribute the methamphetamine — but Freyermuth eventually began delivering the drugs himself to dealers in Oshkosh and Stevens Point, following Bagne's instructions, according to prosecutors.
Freyermuth stored some of the cash that dealers paid him until Bagne picked it up and returned some of the money to Bagne through bank deposits or cashier’s checks, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for western Wisconsin. Freyermuth also drove "large amounts of drug proceeds" to Bagne in Arizona, the release said.
Police seized packages containing 6 pounds of meth that Bagne and Sparks had mailed to Freyermuth in November 2019 and February 2020, according to prosecutors. Investigators found 10 more pounds of meth when they searched a storage unit in Stevens Point that belonged to Bagne and Freyermuth, the news release said.
At the sentencing hearing, the federal judge said "a significant sentence was warranted because the conspiracy involved a tremendous amount of methamphetamine being distributed in central Wisconsin," according to the news release.
"Judge Peterson described Freyermuth’s role in the large-scale conspiracy as multifaceted, including transportation, storage and distribution of methamphetamine. ... Peterson noted that Freyermuth’s criminal history was concerning and included a conviction for violence against his own family members."
A total of six people have been charged in connection with the meth distribution scheme, and all six have pleaded guilty. Bagne is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 18.
The joint investigation included officers from the Central Wisconsin Narcotics Task Force, Drug Enforcement Administration, Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Unit and Merrill Police Department.
Contact Mark Treinen at mtreinen@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MarkTreinen, Instagram at @mark_treinen or Facebook at @Mark Treinen.
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Oshkosh man sentenced for meth trafficking in Oshkosh, Stevens Point
