Wausau Man Sentenced for Possession with Intent to Distribute

Friday, July 21st, 2023 -- 1:00 PM

Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Devin Needham, 37, Wausau, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 10 years in prison for possessing with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

Needham pleaded guilty to this charge on April 5, 2023. In December 2021, law enforcement agents began a drug investigation into Needham. The investigation revealed that Needham and his co-defendant, Ari Lor, were involved in selling large amounts of methamphetamine.

On June 20, 2022, GPS location data from Lor’s cellular telephone showed he was driving towards Wausau from his home in Appleton, Wisconsin.  Based on information developed during the investigation, agents believed Lor was planning to meet with Needham to buy methamphetamine.

Law enforcement officers located Lor’s black minivan parked at a market in Wausau.  Officers observed Lor leave the market carrying at least one plastic bag and get in the passenger side of the minivan. The minivan drove away but was pulled over by law enforcement officers a short time later for an expired registration sticker.

After a K-9 positively alerted to the presence of narcotics, officers searched the minivan and found approximately one pound of methamphetamine in a white plastic bag. Officers later reviewed surveillance video from the market and saw Lor and Needham walk around the store together.

In the video, Needham is carrying a white plastic bag and the name of a store printed on the side of the bag was identical to the bag found in the minivan containing the methamphetamine. During Lor’s arrest, agents seized two cellular telephones from him.

Officers later searched the phones pursuant to a warrant, and on one of the phones found a message over the application “Telegram” from June 19, 2022, in which Lor asked Needham about the price of one pound of methamphetamine.

Needham responded it would cost $4,000. Telegram messages prior to Lor’s arrest on June 20 show him and Needham making plans to meet that day in Wausau. Needham’s criminal history includes eight prior felony convictions, including convictions for child abuse, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and bail jumping.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Peterson stated that Needham was a drug trafficker of significance and had a substantial criminal history including multiple offenses involving violence. On June 29, 2023, Lor was sentenced by Judge Peterson to 120 months in prison.

The charge against Needham is the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Central Wisconsin Narcotics Task Force comprised of investigators from the FBI, Marathon County Sheriff’s Office, Wausau Police Department, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Wisconsin State Patrol, Everest Metro Police Department, and Wisconsin’s National Guard Counterdrug Program.

The Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group and the Marathon County District Attorney’s Office also provided assistance.  The prosecution of the case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wegner.

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