By Stephen Montemayor
Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS — 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 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, Sara 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.
According to a Feb. 7 memo outlining the government’s arguments before Majerus’ sentencing, 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 September 2022 to broker a 1-pound meth sale for $3,000. A month after being released from prison, Majerus was stopped by police in November 2022. Officers did not find any narcotics on him but seized drug ledgers and wire receipts for money sent to Mexico. They also uncovered cellphone 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 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 north.
Investigators carried out a pair of controlled buys for 4 pounds of meth each the next month, both taking place at Evenson’s 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, at 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 multipound 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 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 the lower back in 2016 and required multiple surgeries to repair his intestines, abdomen and hip while suffering lasting effects.
In response to a presentence 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 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.
“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.
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