A 42-year-old Houghton County man will spend at least nine years in prison for leading a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy that brought drugs across state lines into the region.
Joshua LaCasse was arrested in 2025 following an extensive investigation by Michigan State Police U.P.S.E.T. The unit’s detailed work mapping LaCasse’s movements between Michigan and Wisconsin proved crucial in establishing his role as the conspiracy’s orchestrator. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine in exchange for prosecutors dismissing a racketeering charge and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime.
Judge Brittany Bulleit of the 12th Circuit Court sentenced LaCasse to serve 9 to 20 years in a Michigan state prison. He will receive no credit for time served.
LaCasse’s sentencing marks the second drug trafficking conviction in a week, signaling an intensified crackdown on methamphetamine distribution in Houghton County. Houghton County Prosecutor Dan Helmer told the court that LaCasse’s conviction represents a significant victory in combating drug trafficking in the region.
“The only reason that any sort of sentencing agreement was offered to him, as a ringleader mind you, was he was never caught with any quantity of methamphetamine. Because he constantly had the lower-level addicts like Ashley Kela, Dustin Palosaari, Dylan Kangas, Romana Vosecky, Michael Johnson do his dirty work,” Helmer said. “Everything, for lack of a better phrase, the person left holding the bag was always someone else. But as the court can see from the pre-sentence investigation, it was all done in his direction.”
Helmer credited cooperation from multiple co-conspirators with providing investigators the evidence needed to charge LaCasse as the conspiracy’s architect.
Judge Bulleit reviewed LaCasse’s extensive criminal history during sentencing. The 20-year record of prior convictions weighed heavily on her decision, as did the fact that LaCasse was actively on parole when arrested in 2025.
“This offense involves you being a leader, planning to purchase controlled substances from out of state and bring them to our local area to sell,” Judge Bulleit said. “While you object to that, I think the evidence does speak to that. Whether you went yourself or not, that was part of the conspiracy.”
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