NORTHEAST WISCONSIN (NBC 26) — Authorities view a major drug bust at a Grand Chute hotel as a significant step in their fight against drugs.
According to a federal criminal complaint, a narcotics investigator with the Brown County Drug Task Force met with a confidential source in September regarding 26-year-old Derek Liebergen.
The complaint said Liebergen would rent a hotel room in the Appleton area and use the room to sell pounds of methamphetamine.
On September 11, Liebergen rented a room in Grand Chute. He was arrested, and a search of his hotel room resulted in the recovery of about 60 pounds of methamphetamine.
"Without a doubt this is the largest methamphetamine bust that we've seen in Northeast Wisconsin," Brown County Sheriff Todd Delain said.
According to the complaint, Liebergen admitted he traveled from Missouri to Wisconsin with large amounts of meth, and his intent was to sell it to pay off an existing drug debt to his supplier.
Delain hopes cutting off that supply will also put a dent in demand.
"We may have prevented other people who would of been tempted to try methamphetamine," he said. "Knowing that it's so highly addictive, by trying it, they may then have been addicted to it."
Local drug treatment experts at the Jackie Nitschke Center said the meth problem in Northeast Wisconsin is a big one with no easy fix.
"Addiction is a disease," Jackie Nitschke Center CEO Larry Connors said. "It's a disease that affects individuals, families, and our community."
Connors said the bust is good in that there are less drugs out there, but he acknowledges there will be more supply to meet the current demand. His focus is early intervention.
"There is hope," he said. "It can be treated, but it is challenging."
Delain said investigators are already back to work to continue addressing the problem.
"The next dealer is going to fill in or attempt to fill in, and if they do, law enforcement is going to do that same thing - track them down, arrest them, and hold them accountable for their actions," he said.
Liebergen is one of nine people named in a federal indictment. If convicted, they could all face a minimum of ten years, up to life in prison.
