Star Tribune
Prosecutors reveal Minnesota meth trafficker’s bosses: federal prison inmates
A meth distribution conviction sent John Paul Majerus II to federal prison for the first time in 2017. Years later, he emerged with new connections and bosses who gave their orders while still incarcerated themselves.
Dubbing himself “Money,” the 34-year-old Burnsville man ramped up his meth trafficking as his original federal sentence neared its end in 2022. Federal agents working undercover pegged Majerus as a key middleman for a trafficking organization that funneled meth up north from Mexico in shipments of up to 50 pounds per carload.
But prosecutors just disclosed last month that Majerus had been doing the bidding of higher-ups who conducted their business from within federal prison walls.
Majerus was arrested and indicted alongside one other person in March 2023 and pleaded guilty later that year to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Senior U.S. District Judge David Doty on Tuesday sentenced Majerus to 15 years in federal prison on the new conviction, imposing the mandatory minimum sentence in the case at the request of both Majerus’ lawyer and the prosecution.
A second defendant, Sarah Evenson, pleaded guilty last month and is awaiting a sentencing date of her own. However, the organization’s incarcerated leaders have yet to be publicly named or charged in the case.
According to a Feb. 7 memo outlining the government’s arguments before Majerus’ sentencing on Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Roso wrote that the “large-scale meth trafficking organization” Majerus worked for was helmed by “unindicted coconspirators incarcerated with the Bureau of Prisons, who would broker the sale of bulk amounts of methamphetamine and enlist individuals in the community to distribute the same.”
Court documents say one of the federally incarcerated co-conspirators connected an undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent with Majerus in Sept. 2022 to broker a one-pound meth sale for $3,000. A month after being released from prison, Majerus was stopped by police in Nov. 2022. Officers did not find any narcotics on him but did seize drug ledgers and wire receipts for money sent to Mexico. They also uncovered cell-phone communications with someone later identified as Evenson, who was later found to be running a Minneapolis stash house for the group.
Meanwhile, a courier arrested near Des Moines in January 2023 and found with more than 50 pounds of methamphetamine destined for Minnesota identified Majerus as someone who would instruct them where to deliver portions of bulk meth shipments being driven up north.
Investigators carried out a pair of controlled buys for four pounds of meth each the next month, both taking place at the Minneapolis apartment and coordinated by Majerus. Law enforcement later found 30 pounds of meth hidden behind a fake wall, as well as firearms and drug paraphernalia, while searching the apartment. Evenson was present during the search and admitted to knowing about the hidden meth. She told investigators that Majerus was responsible for coordinating seerl multi-pound sales at her apartment.
“The methamphetamine recovered likely represents only a fraction of the volume Mr. Majerus was moving on behalf of this well-organized and far reaching [drug trafficking organization],” Roso wrote in her memo to Doty last month. “Instead of using his time at the Bureau of Prisons to work on rehabilitation, Mr. Majerus instead made connections to allow him to continue his distribution activities once he was released.”
Both Roso and Peter Wold, an attorney who has represented Majerus in both federal cases, attributed Majerus’ fast return to drug trafficking to a life that’s been dominated by drug use and physical trauma.
According to court filings, Majerus began using controlled substances as a teenager, which aggravated underlying mental health issues and traumatic experiences. His drug use ramped up in his early 20s with a dependency on prescription painkillers. He was shot in his lower back in 2016 and required multiple surgeries to repair his intestines, abdomen and hip while still suffering lasting effects.
In response to a pre-sentence investigation from U.S. Probation staff, Majerus attributed his return to drug trafficking to his ongoing medical issues, including the rising costs of medical and rehabilitative treatment.
Wold urged Doty to recommend that the Bureau of Prisons place his client in a prison equipped to provide specialized medical care. On Tuesday, Doty agreed to recommend that Majerus be housed at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minn., or the next-closest such facility.
“Fifteen years in federal prison will certainly be sufficient in the grand scheme of things to punish Mr. Majerus and give him the opportunities to be a productive citizen,” Wold said.
Before Doty announced his sentence, Majerus tearfully apologized while a small group of family members watched on.
“I want you guys to know that I plan on using this time to continue working on myself and to work on my health – mental and physical – and work on the skills to be the man, son and father you all deserve and I want to be,” Majerus said.
The mother of the 14-year-old who has been charged with murder over the fatal shooting of four people at his Georgia high school called the school before the killings, warning staff of an ‘’extreme emergency’’ involving her son, a relative said.
Annie Brown told the Washington Post that her sister, Colt Gray’s mother, texted her saying she spoke with a school counselor and urged them to ”immediately” find her son to check on him.
Brown provided screen shots of the text exchange to the newspaper, which also reported that a call log from the family’s shared phone plan showed a call was made to the school about 30 minutes before gunfire is believed to have erupted.
Brown confirmed the reporting to The Associated Press on Saturday in text messages but declined to provide further comment.
Colt Gray, 14, has been charged with murder over the killing of two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, outside Atlanta, on Wednesday. His father, Colin Gray, is accused of second-degree murder for providing his son with a semiautomatic AR 15-style rifle.
Their attorneys declined to immediately seek bail during their first court appearance on Friday.
Investigators previously interviewed the suspects
The Georgia teenager had struggled with his parents’ separation and taunting by classmates, his father told a sheriff’s investigator last year when asked whether his son posted an online threat.
LOS ANGELES — Kendrick Lamar will pop out on the NFL’s biggest stage next year: The Grammy winner will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show in New Orleans.
The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced Sunday that Lamar would lead the halftime festivities from the Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9. The rap megastar, who has won 17 Grammys, said he’s looking forward to bringing hip-hop to the NFL’s championship game, where he performed as a guest artist with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent and Eminem in 2022.
”Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date,” Lamar said in a statement. “And I’ll be there to remind the world why. They got the right one.”
Lamar, 37, has experienced massive success since his debut album ”good kid, m.A.A.d city” in 2012. Since then, he’s accumulated 17 Grammy wins and became the first non-classical, non-jazz musician to win a Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album ”DAMN.”
The rapper’s latest album ”Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” was released in 2022. He was featured on the song ”Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin on a track that spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this year. He also scored another hit with ”Not Like Us.”
In 2016, Lamar gave a stunning seven-minute performance of tracks such as ”The Blacker the Berry” and ”Alright” at the 58th Grammy Awards. Lamar dazzled as an opener two years later at the Grammys with a performance of ”XXX.”
In June, Lamar turned his Juneteenth ”Pop Out” concert into a celebration of Los Angeles unity. It came on the heels of his rap battle with Drake during the three-hour concert featuring a mix of p-and-coming LA rappers and stars including Tyler, The Creator, Steve Lacy and YG.
Roc Nation founder Jay-Z called Lamar a ”once-in-a-generation” artist and performer.
Star Tribune
Authorities search for a man who might be linked to the Kentucky highway shootings that wounded five
LONDON, Ky. — Authorities were searching Sunday for a man who may have been linked to the shooting of nine vehicles and wounding of five people on a highway in rural southeastern Kentucky.
Although they said they could not yet name him a suspect in Saturday’s shootings along busy Interstate 75, authorities said they consider 32-year-old Joseph A. Couch a ”person of interest” and were searching for him in a remote area of rugged and hilly terrain north of London, a community of about 8,000 people roughly 75 miles (120 kilometers) south of Lexington.
”We’re going to go in and we’re going to find this guy,” Deputy Gilbert Acciardo, a spokesperson for the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office, told reporters Sunday.
Authorities consider Couch, who is white, to be armed and dangerous, and they cautioned members of the public who might spot him not to approach him.
Acciardo said authorities were notified at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday about gunshots along the highway near exit 49. An individual who was ”off that exit” fired multiple rounds into the northbound and southbound lanes, striking nine vehicles and wounding five people, he said.
”When our first two units got to the scene there, they said it was a madhouse: people on the sides of the road, emergency flashers going, bullet holes, windows shot out, nine vehicles shot. Can you imagine that? Just chaotic,” Acciardo said during a news conference.
The wounded were hospitalized in stable condition early Sunday. Some had ”very serious” injuries, including one person who was shot in the face, Acciardo said.
Residents of Laurel County were on edge as authorities searched on foot Sunday in a remote wooded area near the highway that has only one business and a few houses nearby. London Laurel Rescue squad sent a drone to assist. State lawmakers from Laurel County urged residents in the area to stay home during the search.
