Date: December 15, 2022 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov St. Paul, MN — A Saint Paul man was found guilty by a federal jury of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and possession with the intent to distribute marijuana, announced United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger. Following a three-day trial before U.S. District Senior Judge Paul A. Magnuson, Danny William Gehl, Jr, was convicted on December 14, 2022, of one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and one count of possession with the intent to distribute marijuana. A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. As proven at trial, from 2016 through June 2021, Danny William Gehl, Jr., along with co-conspirators Douglas Robert Finch, David William Gehl, Frank Joseph Kittleson, Patrick Thomas Maykoski and Daniel Richard Thomas conspired to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. The defendants and others were part of a drug trafficking operation (DTO) that shipped marijuana from California to Minnesota. Members of the DTO routinely sent shipping crates from a warehouse in St. Paul, Minnesota, to a warehouse in North Highlands, California. The DTO members would fly from Minnesota to California to purchase the marijuana, fill the crates with marijuana and then load them on a delivery truck for shipment back to Minnesota. Once the shipment arrived in Minnesota, the DTO members unpacked the crates, repackaged the marijuana, and placed the marijuana in large garbage bags and boxes for distribution. Members of the DTO then transported the marijuana from the Minnesota warehouse to various locations for storage and packaging pending distribution to customers. This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division, Homeland Security Investigations, Ramsey County Sheriff's Office, the Saint Paul Police Department, the BCA, and the Violent Crime Enforcement Team. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas M. Hollenhorst and Albania Concepcion are prosecuting the case.
