2 sentenced to prison for smuggling meth from Los Angeles to Bemidji

February 20—ST PAUL — Two men were sentenced to prison for smuggling methamphetamine sent through the mail from Los Angeles to Bemidji.

According to a release from the US Department of Justice, on July 20, 2021, 26-year-old Molandas Johnson brought five pounds of meth to a Los Angeles post office and shipped it to a Bemidji address.

After federal agents in Minnesota saw the package sent to Johnson, agents obtained a search warrant to seize it.

Days later, US Postal investigators and other officers conducted a controlled delivery of the package in Bemidji, and co-conspirator Luis Francisco Hernandez, 24, picked up the package.

Johnson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance on July 6, 2022, and was sentenced on January 25, 2023 to 10 years in prison with five years of supervised release.

Hernandez also pleaded guilty on July 6, 2022 to distribution of a controlled substance. On February 9, 2023, he was sentenced to nine years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.

The case was the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the US Postal Inspection Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the Paul Bunyan Drug Task Force. say