U.S. Attorney Elgersma: Reedsburg woman sentenced for her role in fentanyl trafficking organization

Chrystal Mueller distributed drugs in exchange for a discount on drugs for personal use

MADISON, WIS. – Chadwick M. Elgersma, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Chrystal D. Mueller, 41, Reedsburg, Wisconsin, was sentenced yesterday by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 18 months in federal prison  for conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl. The prison term will be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Mueller pleaded guilty to this charge on  September 4, 2025. 

Between January 14, 2022, and April 8, 2022, Mueller and others worked together to distribute fentanyl pills in Wisconsin. The drugs would be sent from California and mailed to residences associated with Mueller, who would then distribute them locally. Mueller would get a discount on the fentanyl for her part in the conspiracy.

In rejecting her request for a probationary sentence, Judge Peterson noted that Mueller participated in the conduct for almost two years and brought her then-significant other into the conspiracy. 

Kenneth O. Phillips, 40, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, the local leader of the group, was sentenced on November 21, 2025, to six years in prison. Brandon Stevens, 40, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, was sentenced on November 20, 2025, to a year and a day in prison. Stevens worked for the United States Postal Service as a mail carrier and would pick up parcels containing drugs that were on his route and bring them to his partner, Mueller. 

The investigation determined that a total of 19 parcels were mailed from California to Wisconsin between January and April 2022. The United States Postal Inspection Service intercepted parcels addressed to Phillips, Mueller, and Stevens in March and April and found they contained fentanyl pills.

Another individual in the conspiracy, Ames Basham, has also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced on April 7, 2026.

The charges against Mueller were 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. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).