Madison man sentenced for 3rd incident involving crack cocaine

MADISON, Wis. — A Madison man was sentenced Tuesday for the third time for an incident involving crack cocaine, according to a release.

Joseph Thigpen, 41, was sentenced to 16 years and 9 months in prison for possession of crack cocaine with the intent to distribute it, officials said. Thigpen pleaded guilty to the charge June 20.

Thigpen committed the offense while he was on federal supervised release for a 2006 federal drug conviction for selling crack cocaine, according to the release. Thigpen was also convicted of possessing crack cocaine with the intent to distribute in Dane County in 1994.

The judge imposed a 168-month sentence for the new crime and an additional 33-month sentence, consecutive to the 168-month sentence, for violating his supervised release, for a combined 201-month prison term, officials said.

The judge said that since Thigpen had previous felony convictions for drug dealing and child exploitation, a long, combined sentence was necessary to prevent him from committing further crimes and from harming the community, according to the release.

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