Man pleads guilty in 900‑pound Minneapolis meth bust

Federal prosecutors say Guillermo Mercado‑Chaparro has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine after a sting in south Minneapolis led agents to nearly 900 pounds of meth split between a Jeep and his Toyota Tacoma. Investigators say he first sold a pound of meth to an undercover officer, then was surveilled making additional apparent sales from his truck before officers intercepted a Jeep Wrangler carrying Mercado‑Chaparro and co‑defendant Joel Casas‑Santiago, seizing about 250 pounds of meth from garbage bags and a cooler. A search warrant on Mercado‑Chaparro’s pickup turned up another roughly 630 pounds, bringing the haul to nearly 900 pounds with an estimated street value of $1.7 million, which Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty called a 'staggering' amount that nearly reached Twin Cities residents struggling with addiction. Authorities say the two men are believed tied to a larger Mexico‑based trafficking organization; court records show Casas‑Santiago has a change‑of‑plea hearing set for later this month. For metro readers, this is another reminder that the pipeline flooding local users isn’t small‑time dealers — it’s industrial‑scale dope driven straight into Minneapolis neighborhoods.