MADISON, WIS. – 1/20/26 – Chadwick M. Elgersma, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Donald Spivey, 43, Spring, Texas, was sentenced January 16, 2026, by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 9 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. Spivey pleaded guilty to this charge on October 27, 2025.
On November 30, 2021, an inspector from the United States Postal Inspection Service intercepted a suspicious parcel sent from Houston, Texas to an address in Verona, Wisconsin, which was associated with Spivey. The inspector searched the parcel pursuant to a federal warrant and found approximately two kilograms of cocaine.
As the investigation continued, law enforcement officers identified an apartment in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, where Spivey stored his drugs. On April 6, 2023, investigators obtained a search warrant for the apartment and seized approximately two kilograms of cocaine, $5,160 in cash, multiple cell phones, a heat sealer, shipping material, a digital scale, and a drug press. Numerous text messages on Spivey’s phones revealed his involvement in drug trafficking.
Spivey waived his rights and admitted to mailing the two kilograms of cocaine seized on November 30, 2021. Spivey further confessed to regularly trafficking cocaine from Texas to Wisconsin.
As part of the investigation, investigators also searched the residences of coconspirators Shelby Longino and Darnold Thomas. Inside Longino’s house, investigators found 183 grams of fentanyl pills, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, and $22,878 in cash. During the search of Thomas’s house, investigators seized two kilograms of methamphetamine.
At Spivey’s sentencing, Judge Conley noted that Spivey was responsible for bringing a significant amount of cocaine into the community. Judge Conley found that a lengthy sentence was warranted.
On August 29, 2025, Thomas pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Judge Conley sentenced Thomas to 90 months in prison on December 11, 2025.
On July 31, 2025, Longino pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl. Judge Conley sentenced Longino to five years in prison on October 29, 2025.
The charges against Spivey, Thomas, and Longino were the result of an investigation conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, United States Postal Inspection Service, FBI, Wisconsin State Patrol, Kansas Highway Patrol, Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, and Madison Police Department. Acting U.S. Attorney Elgersma prosecuted this case.
This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of federal law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.
