Methamphetamine Dealer Sent to Federal Prison for Nearly Fifteen Years

 A man who intended to distribute over a pound of methamphetamine was sentenced December 9, 2020, to more almost 15 years in federal prison.

Tyson Wahlen, age 34, from Dodgeville, Wisconsin, received the prison term after a June 23, 2020 guilty plea to one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

In a plea agreement, Wahlen admitted that on December 3, 2019, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop on his car for speeding in Dubuque, Iowa.  During the traffic stop, a K-9 was deployed and alerted to the odor of narcotics coming from Wahlen’s car.  Officers searched the car and recovered a yellow backpack from the front passenger floorboard.  The backpack contained over 550 grams of methamphetamine, over four grams of marijuana, a digital scale, and a couple of pipes.  Wahlen intended to distribute some or all of the methamphetamine inside the yellow backpack to other individuals. 

Wahlen was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Wahlen was sentenced to 178 months’ imprisonment, and he must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.  Wahlen is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Dillan Edwards and investigated by the Dubuque Drug Task Force.  Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 20-CR-01008.