United States Drug Enforcement Administration

MADISON, Wis. – United States Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Field Division Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Bell and Scott C. Blader, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Diane Williams, 37, of Dubuque, Iowa, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to five years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. Williams pleaded guilty to this charge on June 10, 2019.

Williams was charged along with 11 other individuals for participating in a cocaine distribution scheme. The investigation revealed that Gregory Smith was mailing packages containing cocaine from Houston, Texas, to Joseph Harper in Madison. In total, postal records from November 2017 to November 2018 showed 32 packages mailed from Smith to addresses in Wisconsin or Iowa associated with Harper. Seven of the packages were mailed to Williams’ residence in Dubuque. Based on witness statements and multiple cocaine seizures in the case, agents learned that each of the packages contained between a half kilogram and one kilogram of cocaine.

On June 2, 2018, U.S. Postal Inspectors identified an incoming package mailed by Smith to Williams’ residence in Dubuque. After the delivery, officers saw Williams pick up the package and drive away with it. Officers stopped Williams a short time later and recovered 747 grams of cocaine inside the package mailed by Smith.  

In imposing the sentence, Judge Conley noted that Williams had multiple prior felony convictions for drug trafficking. In addition to Smith and Harper, nine other defendants have pleaded guilty in the case. Earlier this month Judge Conley sentenced Harper to 12 years in prison and Smith to 11 years in prison for their respective roles in the conspiracy.   

The charge against Williams is the result of a joint investigation by the DEA, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Dane County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation was conducted and funded by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a multi-agency task force that coordinates long-term narcotics trafficking investigations. The prosecution of the case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wegner.

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