Wapp Jr. guilty of selling drugs from southwest side Waukesha home last year

Published on: 2/10/2016

The fourth and final member of a Waukesha family charged in connection with selling drugs from a southwest side home has pleaded guilty.

But Andrew Wapp Jr., 51, maintained his innocence as he recently entered an Alford plea, which is a guilty plea without making an admission of guilt.

Wapp Jr. entered his Alford plea of possessing with the intent to deliver narcotics, a felony, on Jan. 21. After Wapp made his plea, the court found him guilty.

He will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. March 28 by Judge Ralph Ramirez.

Two other charges, maintaining a drug trafficking place and resisting or obstructing an officer, were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Wapp Jr.'s plea comes more than three months after he initially pleaded guilty to the same count. However, during that hearing in October the court stopped the plea and set a trial date for the case in January.

Wapp Jr. made his plea ahead of the jury trial.

Family members sentenced

Wapp Jr.'s family members have all been sentenced by a judge over the last several months in connection to related drug offenses.

His wife, Sylvia Wapp, pleaded guilty in May to manufacturing and delivering narcotics. A three-year prison sentence was stayed for a one-year jail sentence, a term that began in July. However, during a review hearing on Jan. 20, Ramirez stayed the remaining of Sylvia Wapp's jail term. Her jail term, as a result, now ends Feb. 20 and she will report to the Waukesha Day Report Center for the next three months. The Center, at the county's Huber facilities, provides programming for adults after conviction.

Wapp Jr.'s son, Andrew Wapp III, also pleaded guilty in May to manufacturing and delivering narcotics and was sentenced by Judge Kathryn Foster in June to six years in state prison and another four years of extended supervision. Upon his release, he is barred from residing with immediate members of his family.

Like Wapp Jr., daughter Jessica Wapp entered an Alford plea on Oct. 15 to the charge of possessing with the intent to deliver narcotics. A judge sentenced Jessica Wapp to two years in state prison and two years extended supervision on Nov. 18, but the sentence was stayed in favor of three years of probation.

Caught last year

The Wapps were charged in January 2015 with 15 drug-related charges, including maintaining a drug trafficking place out of their home at 1404 Oakdale Drive.

Both Wapp parents and their children received 50- to 200-mg morphine sulfate capsules from someone in Milwaukee, and they secured them in safes until they were sold, the criminal complaint said.

They were caught during a sting operation, in which Andrew Wapp III and Sylvia Wapp sold drugs to an undercover detective in a parking lot of a nearby shopping center. Evidence surfaced during a search warrant at their home.

Wapp Jr. said in the complaint he had an old prescription of morphine pills and would help friends by selling the pills for $50 apiece. He told police his friends would come to the house to get the pills.

He also said in the complaint his family was not getting rich selling the drugs, but Social Security didn't pay enough and he needed to make ends meet.