Authorities in Dodge County say they've taken a major drug dealer off the streets who has been operating in Beaver Dam for the last two years.
Lacresha Lightfoot, 27, has been formally charged on 16 drug-related counts stemming from a year-long investigation.
The investigation conducted by the Dodge County Drug Task Force is detailed in a 47-page criminal complaint. Authorities say they conducted multiple undercover operations using criminal informants who would buy drugs from Lightfoot or her associates.
"Once you cut off the head, the rest kind of shrivels," said Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt.
Schmidt says Lightfoot had been running a large scale drug ring and controlled a majority of the heroin and coccaine sales in Dodge County.
"At least for awhile we have greatly diminished the availability of heroin and crack cocaine in the Beaver Dam and Dodge County areas," he said. "And we're very excited about taking her off the streets."
According to the criminal complaint, Lightfoot had several people working for her mostly operating out of a Beaver Dam apartment complex.
Authorities would set up drug deals between their criminal informants and these low level dealers, but Schmidt says Lightfoot was behind it all.
"She really was the go-to person in Dodge County and in Beaver Dam," said Schmidt.
According to the complaint, one of the informants told deputies they had tried to quit using drugs several times but Lightfoot was pushy. She even texted the informant once saying "come on, you don't even have $20 to spend?"
"She's taking advantage of people," said Schmidt. "There are people with heroin habits who spend $250, $300 a day keeping up their habit."
One informant even told deputies they had "...spent approximately $26,000 on heroin since July of 2015."
And that same informant also said they almost overdosed. Schmidt says that's something they deal with on a daily basis.
"It is a problem every single day that our law enforcement is fighting with," he said. "And I really think that this is going to help that situation in Beaver Dam, at least in the short term."
Authorities say Lightfoot would travel to Milwaukee daily to pick up her supply. She's also a suspect in several property crimes.
Schmidt says they are still working to arrest the people working for her.
