A longtime felon from West St. Paul faces years in prison after admitting to trafficking drugs and illegal gun possession.
Longtime felon from West St. Paul faces years in prison after admitting to gun and drug charges
His criminal history in Minnesota includes convictions for forgery, illegal weapons possession and failure to register as a predatory sex offender.
December 19, 2022 at 1:27PM
Christopher A. Stengle, 32, pleaded guilty last week in U.S. District Court in St. Paul to four felonies. He remains jailed, and sentencing has not yet been scheduled. .
One of the felony counts carries a possible sentence of slightly more than nine to nearly 11½ years in prison, based on federal sentencing guidelines. An additional count calls for a mandatory five-year prison sentence, according to the guilty plea.
Prosecutors said Stengle possessed cocaine and methamphetamine as well as two semiautomatic pistols from January 2021 to May 2022, when he was arrested in West St. Paul after a brief foot chase.
Because of his previous felony convictions, Stengle was barred by federal law from possessing guns or ammunition.
His criminal history in Minnesota includes convictions for forgery, illegal weapons possession and failure to register as a predatory sex offender in connection with a criminal sexual conduct charge in Washington County in 2008 that was dropped at the same time he pleaded guilty to domestic assault.
