Hours after being sentenced to five years in prison, Minneapolis drug dealer released from jail

A Minneapolis man with a lengthy criminal history sentenced to more than five years in prison for drug and weapons convictions last week walked out of the Hennepin County Jail hours later after he was released on an apparent clerical error.

He has been out ever since.

Court documents show that Hennepin County District Judge Marta Chou sentenced Timothy Wayne Wilson, 60, on Dec. 12 after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of second-degree drug possession and illegal possession of a firearm. He was ordered to report to the department of corrections at 10:30 a.m. that morning.

While there are no official court documents, a Hennepin County jail document shows that approximately 90 minutes later Chou ordered Wilson’s release. The jail processed that request and Wilson was released Thursday evening. How it happened remains murky.

A statement from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, which operates the county jail, said they followed Fourth Judicial District policy in releasing Wilson. The policy dictates that the county jail will use an electronic court tab application “to determine if a defendant is to remain in custody or to be released.”

The Sheriff’s Office also said it has no access to edit the electronic court tab and the judicial order is transmitted via court staff to the jail.

The Star Tribune obtained a copy of the “Hennepin County Jail Court Tab Report.” Under a column labeled “judicial order” it shows Chou ordered Wilson’s release.

A statement from the Hennepin County District Court said, “Judge Chou confirms that she sentenced the defendant to 68 months in prison, that she expected execution of the sentence to occur immediately, and that she did not order the defendant’s release.” They said an investigation into how the order was issued and Wilson was released is ongoing.

Wilson was given an opportunity to reappear in court on Tuesday. He did not and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The case stemmed from an arrest of Wilson in 2021 after a criminal informant told Minneapolis police Wilson was driving a tan Cadillac and selling drugs out of a south Minneapolis home. Police executed a traffic stop on Wilson where they found “61 baggies of cocaine.” While searching his home, police found a 9mm handgun and more than $2,000 in cash. He was charged in 2023 with felony first-degree sale and second-degree possession of cocaine along with illegal possession of a firearm.

Wilson pleaded the second-degree drug possession charge down from more than 25 grams of cocaine to more than 10 grams and pleaded guilty to the gun charge. His plea deal called for 68 months in prison. Under Minnesota sentencing guidelines and with credit for time served, Wilson would likely have been released from prison in three years.

He has a lengthy criminal record in Minnesota, dating back to 1990, that includes felony convictions for selling and possessing drugs, aggravated robbery, burglary, theft and illegal possession of a firearm.

Wilson’s attorney, Hennepin County public defender Bryan Leary, said, “I hope he turns himself in soon — if you run from the police, you just go to jail tired.”

Wilson had been in custody with the Sheriff’s Office since Nov. 9 and was in Chou’s court last week for his sentencing before being released. His whereabouts remain unknown.