MINNEAPOLIS — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Minnesota), published as received.
MINNEAPOLIS – Six individuals have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana, announced Acting U.S. Attorney W. Anders Folk.
According to court documents, from 2016 through June 2021, Douglas Robert Finch, Danny William Gehl, Jr., 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 Homeland Security Investigations and IRS-CID.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas M. Hollenhorst is prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
