MADISON, Wis. – A big-time LaCrosse-based drug trafficker, Toudeng Thao, was sentenced to 7-1/2 years in federal prison. Thao, now age 59, was arrested n 2024 in LaCrosse after arriving from Minnesota with 443 grams of methamphetamine. In the preceding six months, according to undercover agents, Thao had sold more than 12 pounds of meth. This March he pleaded guilty. At sentencing after Thau asked for leniency, Judge William Conley discounted Thao’s claim that he had that he had turned to the dark side only in recent times. Judge Conley pointed to Thau’s violent behavior against his former wife and to a long preoccupation with firearms. The judge called Thau a serious risk to the community. In separate proceedings in March, Thau’s former wife Joua Tha, pleaded guilty as assisting in transactions and was placed on five years probation.
Thau. Regional meth supplier to dealers.