A 33-year-old Waukesha man was accused last week of continuing to sell heroin despite facing 70 years in federal prison on drug distribution charges filed last January.
Tommie Lee Stovall was charged on Tuesday, Aug. 13 in Waukesha County Circuit Court with heroin possession with intent to deliver, maintaining a drug trafficking place, and two counts of delivery of heroin.
Stovall's cash bail was set at $10,000 by Judge Laura Lau at an initial court appearance, with a condition of release being community supervision.
In January, Stovall was charged in the U.S. District Court in Milwaukee with three counts of heroin distribution and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to the indictment. A search warrant executed by Waukesha Police on Stovall's home in February turned up $21,548 in cash and a .38-caliber special revolver, the indictment states.
Stovall has an extensive criminal history, according to the search warrant affidavit. He was imprisoned in Illinois from October 1998 to May 1999 for drug delivery. He was arrested in 2001, 2002 and 2003 for drug possession, for which he spent three months in prison, and he was convicted in June 2008 in Illinois with drug delivery, for which he spent three years in prison.
U.S. Attorney James Santelle for the Eastern District of Wisconsin requested at an April 2 arraignment that Stovall be held in detention before trial. according to court records. However, Judge Patricia Gorence allowed Stovall's release on a bond with the condition that he submit to urine tests and be confined to his home, according to the records.
Stovall's trial in federal court began Aug. 12 and is expected to last three days.
According to the Aug. 12 criminal complaint:
On July 26, a detective with the Waukesha County Metro Drug Enforcement Unit arranged through a confidential informant (CI) to purchase $1,900 worth of heroin from two individuals. The two individuals will not be named as no charges have yet been filed against them.
The two dealers met the detective, who was working undercover, at Kwik Trip Gas Station, 924 Fleetfoot Drive, City of Waukesha. They said that their supplier lived two blocks away and they would return with the drugs.
Undercover officers surveilled the area and observed the two dealers walk to 1306 Fleetfoot Drive and meet with Stovall on the front porch of his home. The dealers returned and allegedly exchanged 11 grams of heroin for $1,900 in prerecorded buy money.
On Aug. 7, the detective purchased an additional 11.1 grams of heroin from the two individuals for $2,000.
A search warrant was executed on Stovall's residence on Aug. 12. Stoval was found to have in his pocket $50 in prerecorded buy money. Also found in the house was $3,800 in cash, $1,060 of which was prerecorded buy money, and 20.1 grams of heroin.
Stovall admitted in a statement to police that he provided the heroin that was sold to the detective. He also admitted that the heroin found in his home did in fact belong to him.
Stovall could face more than 78 years in prison and $310,000 in fines if convicted in Waukesha County. He could face up to 70 years in prison and $3 million in fines if convicted in federal court.
He is expected to appear in Waukesha County court for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 21.