A man who was originally sentenced to twelve and half years in federal prison for drug trafficking had his sentence reduced by almost half by a federal judge. Reed Rogala had information on a missing man, and provided the information to the police in exchange for leniency.

Rogala has now told authorities everything he knows about the Nov. 8, 2004, disappearance of Amos Mortier, 27.

The suspect in Mortier’s disappearance, Jacob Stadfeld, will be prosecuted based on Rogala’s information.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Graber said, “This isn’t the run-of-the mill cooperation.” He said it was “over and above what we usually see.”

Graber said that the huge sentence reduction was warranted for Rogala’s cooperation. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb reduced Rogala’s sentence to six and a half years.

Rogala and Mortier (the missing man), as well as Stadfeld, were all allegedly involved in an operation that sold around 5400 pounds of marijuana. Rogala sold to Mortier, who sold to Stadfeld to sell on the street.

Rogala has said before that just before Mortier disappeared, Mortier told him that he suspected Stadfeld of stealing marijuana. Mortier was determined to recover $80,000 from Stadfeld.

A week later, Mortier disappeared. Rogala apparently knew more about what happened. It was enough more that simply revealing it earned him six years from a very stingy federal justice system.

Source: WI State Journal, “Sentence cut for drug supplier linked to missing man,” October 8, 2010