No. 23-2510 ___________________________

United States of America

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Danny William Gehl, Jr.

Defendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Minnesota ____________

Submitted: October 25, 2024 Filed: February 19, 2025 ____________ Before SHEPHERD, KELLY, and STRAS, Circuit Judges. ____________ SHEPHERD, Circuit Judge.

In a search of a Minnesota warehouse, police found 788 pounds of marijuana bagged and piled up all over the floor, crates for transporting the marijuana, various marijuana products and paraphernalia, and six people—including Defendant Danny Gehl. Gehl was charged with and proceeded to trial on one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. After a trial in which the government presented evidence from the warehouse search, a search of Gehl’s house, and months of surveillance, Gehl was convicted of both counts and the district court 1 sentenced him to the mandatory minimum sentence of 120 months’ imprisonment. He now appeals, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to convict him and that he was improperly denied both safety-valve relief and a minor-participant downward adjustment at sentencing. Having jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.

I.

“We recite the facts in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict.” United States v. Brandon, 64 F.4th 1009, 1013 (8th Cir. 2023) (citation omitted).

Police first began investigating this drug distribution scheme in January 2021. They had received a tip a few months prior stating that a group of four people, which did not include Gehl but did include his brother David Gehl, were involved in the illegal distribution of marijuana between Minnesota and California. Following up on the tip, police learned that the group operated a sham business which rented two warehouses, one in St. Paul, Minnesota, and one in Northern California, that the business routinely shipped crates back and forth between the warehouses, and that the co-conspirators would fly back and forth between Minnesota and California at the same times the crates were shipped. Based on this pattern, police believed the group was shipping money or empty crates to California, then shipping marijuana back from California to Minnesota. Officers began using surveillance to corroborate this theory.

Police first became acquainted with Danny Gehl during February 2021 surveillance of the operation in Minnesota. A shipment of crates arrived at the Minnesota warehouse, and Gehl, who arrived a few hours after the shipment, was one of about six workers who helped process the shipment at the warehouse. He

1 The Honorable Paul A. Magnuson, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota. -2- assisted the others in loading suspected marijuana into their vehicles, and then he loaded his own vehicle with bags and boxes of suspected marijuana. After loading their vehicles, most of the six returned to their homes. Gehl and one other associate drove to Gehl’s home, where they unloaded the bags and boxes.

Two months later, police surveillance observed another shipment arrive with Gehl again arriving at the warehouse a few hours after the shipment, helping other associates load their vehicles, and loading his own vehicle. After loading up, Gehl locked the warehouse door and then he and one other ass