Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Corvalis Stewart from Madison has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison. The sentence was handed down by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson for possessing over 400 grams of fentanyl intended for distribution. Following his prison term, Stewart will undergo eight years of supervised release. He had pleaded guilty on September 1, 2024.
The case stems from an incident on February 8, 2024, when Stewart and Larry Williamson landed a rented Cessna 172 at Middleton Municipal Airport after flying to Phoenix to pick up drugs. Law enforcement had been alerted about their suspicious activities in Arizona and tracked the flight back to Wisconsin.
Upon landing around 10:55 p.m., both men were detained as they walked towards the parking lot with three bags carried by Stewart. A search revealed two bags containing methamphetamine and another with approximately 200,000 fentanyl pills known as M30s—a significant seizure valued at $2 million.
Judge Peterson noted the "startling quantity of drugs" involved and highlighted fentanyl's role in overdose deaths as a concern during sentencing. Additional factors such as Stewart’s criminal history and planning of the crime contributed to his sentence severity.
Stewart's past includes multiple felony convictions related to firearms offenses. At the time of this arrest, he was under federal supervision for a previous firearm conviction; his supervised release was revoked concurrently with his new sentence.
Larry Williamson pleaded guilty on June 18, 2024, for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and received a twelve-year federal prison sentence on October 31, 2024.
The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations alongside local law enforcement agencies including Dane County Narcotics Task Force and Middleton Police Department with support from Air Marine Operations Center in Riverside, California. Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Stephan led the prosecution.