MADISON, Wis. (WFRV) – An Illinois man was sentenced in a Wisconsin courtroom on Tuesday for attempting to possess fentanyl with intent to distribute.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, 56-year-old Reginald Jemison from Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced to ten years behind bars after he pleaded guilty to the charge on June 8, 2023.

Officials say that in 2020, federal and state law enforcement agencies collaborated to investigate several known drug traffickers in Dane County. As part of the investigation, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) learned that an individual in Chicago, later identified as Jemison, coordinated with Andre McClinton to ship a parcel of narcotics to an apartment in Madison via the U.S. Mail.

On December 7, 2020, a U.S. Postal inspector identified the parcel, obtained a federal search warrant, and searched the package.

Inside, the investigator found a vacuum-sealed bag that contained a white substance. The substance weighed around 590 grams, and the Wisconsin State Crime Lab determined it tested positive for fentanyl. DCI took control of the drugs and resealed the parcel for a controlled delivery.

Later on December 7, investigators delivered the parcel to the address in Madison, and within one minute after delivering the package, a silver sedan with Illinois license plates pulled up to the building.

A male subject exited the front passenger seat, walked toward the building, and took the package. Law enforcement officers arrested the subject, later identified as Jeffrey Kemp, as he was putting the container into the vehicle. The driver, identified as Antonio Dillard, was also arrested.

During post-arrest interviews, Kemp and Dillard admitted that Jemison paid them to pick up the parcel and transport the drugs back to Chicago for distribution.

During Jemison’s sentencing, Judge James Peterson underscored the seriousness of Jemison’s crime, explicitly noting that he had a significant amount of dangerous drugs that had caused thousands of overdose deaths in the U.S.

Kemp had previously been sentenced to four years, while Dillard was sentenced to two years. Additionally, Andre McClinton was sentenced to nine years behind bars, while his co-defendant, Michael Henderson, was sentenced to seven years. Jemison’s conviction marks the fifth person convicted in this scheme.

The charge against Jemison resulted from an investigation conducted by DCI, the Dane County Narcotics Task Force, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.