MADISON, Wis. – A big-time drug dealer who ran deals from jail, David Stone, 29, of St. Paul, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. Investigators had tapped 3,000 hours of Stone phone calls from jail in orchestrating large-scale drug operations. He would call a source in Minnesota to arrange for the sale of heroin, meth and fentanyl. Stone would then call co-conspirators in Wisconsin to arrange for the pickup. He was specific to co-conspirators on when to leave Wisconsin, how much to pay for drugs, how to break them down into smaller quantities, and where to redistribute them. At the time Stone was in jail on an unrelated charge.
Why 10 years?
Judge William Conley said the 10-year sentence was appropriate given Stone’s significant criminal history, flippant attitude towards supervision, and the scale of the drug-trafficking operation.
Breaking up the drug ring
Stone was the second person the conspiracy to be sentenced. Marcie Leoso, 31, of Washburn, Wisconsin, was sentenced in January to five years in jail. Awaiting sentencing: Chai Vang, Aaron Guski, and Mala Persaud.