St. Paul man found guilty in large-scale marijuana trafficking conspiracy plot

Kristi Belcamino, Pioneer Press
Updated ·2 min read
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After a three-day trial, a federal jury found a St. Paul man guilty of possession of marijuana and conspiracy and intent to distribute it, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis.

Danny William Gehl Jr., 40, was convicted Wednesday of one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and one count of possession with the intent to distribute marijuana. A sentencing date hasn’t been scheduled. Gehl’s trial was the latest in a large-scale marijuana trafficking conspiracy involving six Twin Cities men who allegedly shipped marijuana from California to a St. Paul warehouse for distribution.

The men were charged in June 2021 following a monthslong investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service.

According to court documents, Gehl; Douglas Robert Finch of Maplewood; Danny Gehl’s brother David William Gehl of Lake Elmo; Frank Joseph Kittleson of Blaine; Patrick Thomas Maykoski of St. Paul; and Daniel Richard Thomas of Dayton conspired in a drug trafficking operation.

Investigators say that between 2016 and 2021, the men and others shipped 300- to 500-pound crates of marijuana from California to Minnesota at least 61 times. Using an elaborate shipping method, the crew would send crates from a warehouse at 1400 Energy Park Drive in St. Paul to a warehouse in North Highlands, Calif.

They would fly from Minnesota to California to purchase the marijuana, fill the crates and then load them on a delivery truck for shipment back to Minnesota, the complaint said.

Once the shipment arrived, the crates were unpacked, repackaged and the marijuana was placed in large garbage bags and boxes and stored at the men’s residences for distribution. The Gehl brothers were observed by investigators storing marijuana at their mother’s house in St. Paul, the complaint said.

The investigation was done through surveillance, flight records, cellphone records and shipping manifests.

Kittleson’s phone records put him near Redding, Calif., on a plot of land owned by a St. Paul resident. Satellite photos show a marijuana crop growing on the property, the complaint said.

Investigators raided the St. Paul warehouse and seized 600 pounds of marijuana and 400 pounds of edibles and THC vape juice. Follow up searches of the men’s residences netted nearly $300,000 in cash as well as firearms, marijuana and other drug paraphernalia.

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