Today Jesse Grassmuck was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison for Conspiracy to Traffic Fentanyl 4-14 grams and ordered to pay a $50,000 statutory fine. He
was also sentenced to 15 years in prison for Possession of Specified Machines or Materials (pill press machines), to run concurrent to count one. The defendant was convicted in May, following a trial in Lee County.
This defendant is the first to be tried and sentenced from Operation Woot-de-Woot, which was the second NETFORCE operation to date.
NETFORCE was formed by State Attorney Amira Fox in 2020 to coordinate a circuit-wide approach to investigating and dismantling long-term organized crime, narcotics, racketeering, and money laundering criminal enterprises.
Operation Woot-de-Woot took place in 2021 and 2022, resulting in the arrest of 29 individuals and the seizure of cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, marijuana, oxycodone, firearms, and U.S. currency involved in illegal drug sales.
Grassmuck had conspired to purchase 7 grams of fentanyl from another co-conspirator who has since died of a fentanyl overdose. A search warrant served at the defendant’s home led to several pill pressing machines and bags containing various powders, used in the manufacturing of illegal drugs, being collected as evidence.
Assistant State Attorney Kate Rumley and Assistant State Attorney Brock Frazier prosecuted the case.
Samantha Syoen – Communications Director, State Attorney’s Office