Star Tribune
Soldier in St. Cloud woman’s smuggling ring admits role in trafficking drugs from El Chapo’s cartel
A 34-year-old woman is the latest of more than a dozen Minnesotans who have admitted being soldiers in a St. Cloud woman’s three-year smuggling operation that funneled into the Midwest large amounts of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine supplied by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel in Mexico.
Deanna Marie Gerads pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fargo to conspiracy to possess and distribute illicit drugs in connection with the trafficking that spanned from January 2019 until January 2022, when the ringleader and others working for her were indicted.
Gerads had been on the run for more than a year until her capture in Mexico in August and brought back to the United States. She remains in custody before her sentencing July 2, when she faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison, according to the plea filing.
The brains behind the smuggling ring, according to federal investigators, was 32-year-old Macalla “Kayla” Knott, who counted her father as one of her conspirators.
Knott pleaded guilty in March 2023 to conspiracy to possess, import into the United States and distribute illicit drugs, and international money laundering conspiracy. She is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 14, when she could receive 15 years to life in prison.
The group used violence and threats to ensure payment and in their effort to conceal their crimes, according to federal prosecutors. The co-conspirators also used smartphone apps and financial transaction tactics to hide where the movements of their ill-gotten proceeds.
At last count, authorities said they seized more than 100 pounds of methamphetamine, 9 pounds of fentanyl powder and 120,000 fentanyl pills as part of their investigation. The drugs made their way to numerous cities in Minnesota along with Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and elsewhere, the indictment read.
Guzman was a Mexican drug kingpin who was sentenced in 2019 to life in prison for leading a multibillion-dollar drug-trafficking enterprise that spread murder and mayhem for more than two decades. Guzman, who turns 67 on April 4, is presently held in a supermax federal prison that is dubbed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies” in Florence, Colo.
Guilty pleas to various drug- and money-laundering counts have been entered by more than a dozen of the participants in the smuggling operation.
The ringleader’s father, Jeffrey Robert Knott, 52, of St. Cloud, pleaded guilty to international money laundering and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 17.
Prison sentences have been handed down to Kayla Marie Schutz, 30, of St. Augusta, 3⅓ years; Demian Hebert, 49 of Bloomington, 14 years; Oliver Louis Dylla, 33 of Avon, 2½ years; James Warren Garner, 24, of Little Falls, seven years; Mary Rose Thompson, 29, Moorhead, 8⅓ years; Melanie Ann Quick, 28, of St. Cloud, nine years; Joseph Paul Myers Jr., 72, of Elk River, 11 years; and Robert Jon Ratka, 41, of Melrose, seven years.
Awaiting sentencing are David Robert Nowlan, 32, of Waite Park; Tiffany Nina Keomany, 30, of Savage; Tyler Neil Pelzer, 34, of St. Cloud; Robert Blair Gjevre, 63, of Champlin; and Brady Robert Ludescher, 28, who has had various addresses in Minnesota.
This case is part of what the U.S. Justice Department’s “Operation Unfinished Business II,” which investigates the international trafficking of methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Mohamed Omar is the new board chair of Hennepin Healthcare System, the organization that runs HCMC, making him Minnesota’s first Somali American hospital board leader.
The health care system board permanently appointed Omar to the position Wednesday at their regular meeting. He had served as interim chair since Babette Apland stepped down in September.
Omar has been on the volunteer board for three years, working on the finance, investment, audit and compliance committees. He is the chief administrative officer at the Washburn Center for Children and previously was chief financial officer at the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund.
In a statement, Omar said he was excited to lead a hospital board in the state with the largest Somali American population in the U.S. He said he shared the health system’s dedication to providing “equitable, high-quality care.”
“My commitment is to deepen our community engagement, build more authentic connections between patients and team members, and build a confident future together,” Omar’s statement said.
CEO Jennifer DeCubellis and Nneka Sederstrom, chief health equity officer, praised Omar’s selection to lead the board. They said more inclusive leadership with a commitment to ending health disparities are key to HCMC’s success.
Hennepin County Board Chair Irene Fernando, who is also on health system board, said she was excited to work with Omar. She said county leaders are dedicated to good stewardship of the “state’s last public safety-net hospital.”
“As the first Hennepin County Board Chair of color, I know how impactful it is for our communities to see themselves represented in public leadership,” Fernando said.
DULUTH – The Superior National Forest has lifted its forestwide campfire ban, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, effective Friday.
Recent rain and humidity have improved conditions across the national forest’s 3 million acres, forest officials said in a news release.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has also lifted fire restrictions in Cook, Koochiching, Lake and northern St. Louis counties.
Fire danger is still a concern this time of year, said Karen Harrison, DNR wildfire prevention specialist.
“As leaves fall and vegetation continues to dry out, it’s important for people to be cautious with anything that can cause a spark,” she said.
The national forest imposed its broad campfire ban nearly two weeks ago, after a third wildfire, named for Bogus Lake, was discovered on forest land. No significant fire activity has been reported in recent days for any of those three fires. A fourth fire inside the forest, the 8.5-acre Pfeiffer Lake Fire, started Oct. 17. It was contained within 24 hours, the Forest Service said.
Much of northeast Minnesota is still classified in the “severe drought” stage by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris was asked this week if she thought Donald Trump was a fascist, and she replied ‘’Yes, I do.’’ She subsequently called him the same thing herself, saying voters don’t want ‘’a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.’’
But what exactly is a fascist? And does the meaning of the word shift when viewed through a historical or political prism — especially so close to the end of a fraught presidential race?
An authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is often associated with the far right and characterized by a dictatorial leader who uses military forces to help suppress political and civil opposition.
History’s two most famous fascists were Nazi chief Adolf Hitler in Germany and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Known as Il Duce, or ”the duke,” Mussolini headed the National Fascist Party, which was symbolized by an eagle clutching a fasces — a bundle of rods with an axe among them.
At Mussolini’s urging, in October 1922, thousands of ”Blackshirts,” or ”squadristi,” made up an armed fascist militia that marched on Rome, vowing to seize power. Hitler’s Nazis similarly relied on a militia, known as the ”Brownshirts.” Both men eventually imposed single-party rule and encouraged violence in the streets. They used soldiers, but also fomented civilian unrest that pit loyalists against political opponents and larger swaths of everyday society.
Hitler and Mussolini censored the press and issued sophisticated propaganda. They played up racist fears and manipulated not just their active supporters but everyday citizens.
