2 men accused of operating 'empire of illegal drugs' in Wisconsin

KENOSHA, Wis. (WITI) -- Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth said Wednesday two men are in custody, accused of operating an "empire of illegal drugs" in southeast Wisconsin. The accused are 20-year-old Tyler Huffhines and 23-year-old Jacob Huffhines.

Waukesha Police Capt. Dan Baumann said this all began in early July when a mom and dad showed up at the police department. They brought their high school-aged son with them and wanted to hold their son accountable for allegedly distributing vaping cartridges with THC. Capt. Baumann said it was all in the high schools — and throughout Waukesha County. With the help of the parents, investigators were able to work their clues — and ended up in Kenosha County, where the Huffhines were arrested.

Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth said the operation allegedly run by the Huffhines was one largest drug operations of this type he's seen in Kenosha County. He believes it maybe one of the largest in the country.

In Paddock Lake, investigators found $59,000 in currency, eight firearms and ammunition, cocaine, marijuana, Xanax pills, cellphones and much more.

Sheriff Beth said the Bristol residence, a condo, was rented using a fake name. Beth said in the condo officers found 31,200 vape cartridges already filled and ready to be shipped out — each contained one gram of THC. They also found approximately 98,000 cartridges that were unfilled. Investigators also located 57 mason jars filled with THC oil — each jar was valued at roughly $6,000.

“What (the Huffhines) would do is they would hire people, and they would actually pay them initially $20 an hour, and they would take THC oil ... and take a syringe and inject it into the cartridges,” Beth said.

The sheriff indicated the cartridges had labels which indicated there was 5 milligrams of THC in the cartridge. But there was much more THC in those cartridges.

“So it's 157 times the potency of what the labeling says,” Beth said.

Sheriff Beth said he knows there are more people involved in this operation — and his investigators are actively searching for them.