La Crosse man indicted on federal drug, gun charges

MADISON, Wis. (WEAU) - A La Crosse man is indicted on several federal drug and gun charges Wednesday.

26-year-old Jade Deeny was charged with distributing cocaine, possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute, possessing 50 grams or more of meth with the intent to distribute, and using and maintaining a place for the distribution of cocaine.

Deeny is also charged with possessing loaded firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

All six of the charges were filed in U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin.

In June, Deeny received 19 felony charges in La Crosse County after the La Crosse Police Department seized an estimated over $1 million in drugs. In documents filed with the charges in La Crosse County Circuit Court on June 10, an investigator wrote in the criminal complaint that in their 17 years of law enforcement and eight years as a drug investigator they had never seen this many counterfeit pills, nearly 300,000 of them, in one location. They also wrote that they had never seen a pill press or distribution center in a storage unit. The investigator said that it was “quite clear” that Deeny was producing and selling the pills to people in the La Crosse area and across the country given the number of shipping materials recovered from the storage unit.

According to a release by the La Crosse Police Department, officers said the 10′ by 10′ storage unit contained a pill press to make Xanax and thousands of U.S. Postal Service boxes. Police also found non-active ingredients needed to make pills. In searching the three locations, officers found 135.13 pounds of pressed counterfeit Xanax in three different colors, a pound of fentanyl near the Xanax press, a pound of counterfeit Adderall that tested positive for meth, 25.3 grams of meth in pill form, 77 narcotic pills, 250.7 grams of cocaine, 524 grams of THC wax, four pounds of THC candies, 212 grams of psilocybin-infused chocolate, four handguns with two high-capacity magazines and one drum magazine, a rifle and 603 rounds of ammunition and $5,953 in cash.

In addition to the federal charges filed with the indictment Wednesday, Deeny faces 21 charges in La Crosse County of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, cocaine, meth, counterfeit narcotics (four counts), THC and psilocin, all as a second or subsequent offense and all with intent to deliver; manufacturing and delivering cocaine; five counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (out of state); possession of counterfeit drug tools, narcotic drugs and drug paraphernalia (two counts); and two counts of maintaining a drug trafficking place, according to online court records. All except the drug paraphernalia charges are felony charges.

Deeny faces a maximum of 20 years on three of the four federal drug charges, and faces a minimum five-year sentence up to a maximum of 40 years for the charge of possessing meth with the intent to distribute. He also faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for being a felon in the possession of firearms. The second federal gun charge of possessing loaded firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime has a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison with a maximum life sentence.

Police said Deeny was previously imprisoned in North Carolina on drug- and gun-related charges. WECT in Wilmington, NC reported in 2017 that Deeny was sentenced to up to five and a half years in prison for two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, manufacturing marijuana, possession with intent to deliver marijuana and a probation violation after being found at a hotel in Wilmington with the drugs and guns. Deeny was also involved in a 2016 incident in Wilmington in which three guns, marijuana and packaging materials were found in his residence. According to court records in North Carolina, Deeny was also sentenced to 12 to 24 months prison for two counts of attempting to traffic MDMA and one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance in 2019. Deeny was also sentenced to prison in 2015 on theft charges and was sent to jail in 2014 for theft and gun charges in North Carolina.

The federal charges were brought after an investigation by the La Crosse Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The charges are also brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program of the U.S. Justice Department. Both federal and La Crosse County charges stem from the same incident in June 2022.

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