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Drug busts follows SWAT raid

Three Waupaca menĀ face felony charges

On Tuesday, Jan. 24, the Waupaca County SWAT team, along with deputies, Waupaca police officers and state probation agents, raided a home at 427 Center St., in Waupaca.

They were there to arrest William J. Sanders, 34, who had allegedly violated the conditions of his extended supervision.

According to Waupaca County Sheriff Brad Hardel, the SWAT team was involved in Sandersā€™ arrest due to his violent and lengthy criminal history.

Sanders has been in and out of state prison and county jails since June 2002. He was most recently released from confinement in August 2016, according to records of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

His prior convictions include substantial battery, criminal escape, resisting arrest, three burglaries, five drunken driving offenses, disorderly conduct, theft and multiple bail jumping offenses.

The SWAT entry team located a loaded .44-caliber revolver inside the residence.

A subsequent search found 13 small plastic bags containing suspected methamphetamine and numerous items related to the sale of drugs.

Officers also found three plastic vials containing 100 Lisinopril pills, a medicine used to treat high blood pressure and heart disease.

Police arrested another man, Charles F. Besler, 32, Racine, during the raid.

Sanders was charged with possession of amphetamine with intent to deliver, felon in possession of a firearm and drug trafficking.

Bessler was charged with possession of amphetamine with intent, felon in possession of a firearm and possession of illegally obtained prescription drugs.

Sanders and Besler remain in custody on $5,000 cash bonds.

Anderson

While other officers executed the search warrant at 427 Center St., Waupaca Police Sgt. John Helgeson and Waupaca County Deputy Patrick McClone went across the street with two probation agents to conduct a probation search of the home of Alex J. Anderson, 31.

Two people had been seen leaving 427 Center St., walk across the street and enter 428 Center St.

Anderson was convicted of two counts of resisting an officer and one count of misdemeanor bail jumping on May 7, 2015, and placed on two years of probation. He also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement on one charge of possession of heroin with intent to deliver.

Helgeson reported that they knocked on the door, but nobody answered. The door was ajar and the officers yelled inside for someone to answer the door.

The officers eventually made contact with Anderson, the two people seen walking over from Sandersā€™ home across the street and two more adults.

A 3-year-old child and her mother was also inside the residence. Police contacted Waupaca County Health and Human Services to assess the childā€™s welfare due to possible exposure to meth.

McClone and Helgeson went upstairs where they found a bedroom with a plastic sheet covering the doorway.

ā€œDeputy McClone and I entered the room and noted a large amount of smoke in the room,ā€ Helgeson reported. ā€œI was unable to make out the exact odor of the smoke but it was clearly not tobacco or marijuana smoke.ā€

The smoke was described as having a dull chemical odor.

One of the men in the house was Aaron J. Massman, 32, Ogdensburg, who was on work-release privileges through the Waupaca County jail.

He was convicted of two counts of possession of illegally obtained prescription drugs on July 7, 2015, and placed on two years of probation. A charge of possession of meth had been dismissed but read into the court record.

Four days prior to officers arriving at Andersonā€™s home, Judge Raymond Huber revoked Massmanā€™s probation and sentenced him to 90 days in jail with work-release privileges.

Since Massman was supposed to be at work, he was taken into custody.

A subsequent urine test indicated the presence of meth in Massmanā€™s blood, according to the criminal complaint.

Officers reported finding Xanax, Lorazepam and Adderall in Andersonā€™s bedroom, as well as trace amounts of meth in the smoke-filled room.

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