Minnesota woman pleads guilty to drug trafficking after arrest in Mexico

A Freeport woman has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges after she was apprehended in Mexico last year.

Deanna Marie Gerads, 33, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances in federal court in North Dakota on Tuesday.

On Aug. 1 of last year, Gerads was apprehended in Mexico and deported back to the U.S. She had been a fugitive for more than a year at that time, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Gerads’ case is part of an investigation by the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force into international methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl trafficking between Mexico and the Midwest.

According to an indictment, Gerads and 11 others were involved in a drug smuggling operation that imported Class A narcotics from Mexico to Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Her sentencing is slated for July 2.