MADISON, WIS. -- Jeffrey M. Anderson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Joseph Thigpen, 41, Madison, Wis., was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to a cumulative sentence of 201 months (16 years and 9 months) for possessing crack cocaine with the intent to distribute. Thigpen pled guilty to this charge before Judge Conley on June 20, 2017.
Thigpen committed this offense while he was on federal supervised release for a 2006 federal drug conviction in the Western District of Wisconsin for selling crack cocaine. Thigpen was also convicted of possessing crack cocaine with the intent to distribute in Dane County Circuit Court in 1994.
Judge Conley imposed a 168-month sentence for the new crack cocaine crime and an additional 33-month sentence, consecutive to the 168-month sentence noted above, for violating his supervised release, for a combined 201-month prison term. Judge Conley observed that Thigpen had prior felony convictions for drug dealing and child exploitation and stated that the long, combined sentence was necessary to prevent Thigpen from committing further crimes and from harming the community. Judge Conley also noted it was an additional aggravating factor that Thigpen had involved his adult son-who had no prior criminal record-in drug dealing.
The charge against Thigpen was the result of an investigation conducted by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department and the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
