Appleton Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Possessing Methamphetamine for Distribution

MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Ari Lor, 30, Appleton, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 10 years in prison for possessing with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.  Lor pleaded guilty to this charge on April 4, 2023. 

In January of 2022, law enforcement agents began a drug investigation into Lor.  On June 20, 2022, GPS location data from Lor’s cellular telephone showed he was driving towards Wausau, Wisconsin, from his home in Appleton.  Based on information developed during the investigation, agents believed Lor was planning to meet with co-defendant Devin Needham to buy methamphetamine.

Law enforcement officers located Lor’s black minivan parked at a market in Wausau.  Officers observed Lor leave the market carrying at least one plastic bag and get in the passenger side of the minivan.  The minivan drove away but was pulled over by law enforcement officers a short time later for an expired registration sticker.  After a K-9 positively alerted to the presence of narcotics, officers searched the minivan and found approximately one pound of methamphetamine in a white plastic bag. 

Officers later reviewed surveillance video from the market and saw Lor and Needham walk around the store together.  In the video, Needham is carrying a white plastic bag and the name of a store printed on the side of the bag was identical to the bag found in the minivan containing the methamphetamine.

During Lor’s arrest, agents seized two cellular telephones from him.  Officers later searched the phones pursuant to a warrant, and on one of the phones found a message over the application “Telegram” from June 19, 2022, in which Lor asked Needham about the price of one pound of methamphetamine.  Needham responded it would cost $4,000.  Telegram messages prior to Lor’s arrest on June 20 show him and Needham making plans to meet that day in Wausau.

Lor’s criminal history includes four prior felony convictions, including convictions for strangulation and suffocation and possession with intent to distribute amphetamine.  At the sentencing hearing, Judge Peterson concluded that a significant sentence was warranted because Lor’s criminal history showed a commitment to a criminal lifestyle.  Judge Peterson also noted that Lor had been provided with many opportunities to turn his life around but failed to do so.

Needham pleaded guilty on April 5, 2023 to possessing 50 grams or more of methamphetamine for distribution.  He will be sentenced by Judge Peterson on July 20, 2023.

The charge against Lor is the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Central Wisconsin Narcotics Task Force comprised of investigators from the FBI, Marathon County Sheriff’s Office, Wausau Police Department, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Wisconsin State Patrol, Everest Metro Police Department, and Wisconsin’s National Guard Counterdrug Program.  The Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group and the Marathon County District Attorney’s Office also provided assistance.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wegner is handling the prosecution.