Source: Office of United States Attorneys
MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Craig C. Gates, 46, Wausau, Wisconsin, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 106 months in federal prison for possessing cocaine intended for distribution and possessing a loaded firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The prison term will be followed by 5 years of supervised release. Gates pleaded guilty these charges on October 28, 2024.
In February 2022, Central Wisconsin Narcotics Task Force officers began investigating a methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking organization operating in Wausau, Wisconsin, led by Tommie Haney and Quo Vadis Lewis. The multi-year investigation involved the seizure of drug-laden packages from the mail, controlled purchases of narcotics, and seizures of firearms and large quantities of drugs from residence searches. From the investigation, officers believe the drug trafficking organization was distributing kilograms quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine.
Craig Gates was identified as a frequent source of cocaine for Lewis and on June 28, 2023, officers with the Central Wisconsin Narcotics Task Force executed a search warrant at Gates’s residence. Agents recovered a loaded Ruger 9mm handgun, over 420 grams of cocaine, over $11,000 in cash, and drug trafficking paraphernalia. Gates is prohibited from legally possessing firearms and ammunition because of multiple prior felony convictions.
During a later interview with law enforcement, Gates admitted that he had been selling cocaine for a long time. Gates said that he considered Lewis a friend, knew him a long time, and was Lewis’s source of cocaine. Further, Gates admitted to supplying 3 additional distributors, and receiving one or more kilograms at a time from his own source. Gates thought the cocaine came from cartels in Mexico because it came wrapped and stamped.
Gates was on state supervision for five different state cases while trafficking cocaine. His state supervision has since been revoked and he was ordered to serve one year in county jail.
At sentencing, Judge Conley noted that Gates was identified as a primary source of cocaine for Quo Vadis Lewis and other distributors. Judge Conley highlighted the many aggravating factors in the case, including the large amount of cocaine recovered, the loaded firearm, Gates’s lengthy criminal history including violence, and his being on supervision for five cases while trafficking cocaine.
Eight others were also charged in connection with this drug trafficking organization. Teala L. Kumbera was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine and sentenced on November 14, 2024, to 54 months in federal prison. Shandel L. Mohr was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine and sentenced on December 3, 2024, to 12 months and 1 day in federal prison. Quo Vadis Lewis was convicted of conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and 500 grams or more of cocaine and possessing firearms as a felon and was sentenced on January 3, 2025, to 12 ½ years in federal prison. Shelby Gutch pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine on January 7, 2025, and entered into a 24-month diversion agreement. Troy C. Olsen was convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine and was sentenced on January 8, 2025, to 45 months in federal prison. Tommie Haney, Edwin Lewis, and Samuel A. Teague have all pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming months.
The charges against Gates were the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Central Wisconsin Narcotics Task Force comprised of investigators from the FBI, Wisconsin State Patrol, Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Marathon County Sheriff’s Office, Portage County Sheriff’s Office, Mountain Bay Police Department, Wausau Police Department and Wisconsin National Guard Counter Drug Program. The Marathon County District Attorney’s Office also assisted with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven P. Anderson prosecuted this case.
This case has been brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the U.S. Justice Department’s program to reduce violent crime. The PSN approach emphasizes coordination between state and federal prosecutors and all levels of law enforcement to address gun crime, especially felons illegally possessing firearms and ammunition and violent and drug crimes that involve the use of firearms.
This operation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.