Stillwater Prison Guard, Inmate Face Federal Meth-Distribution Charges

STILLWATER, MN — A guard and inmate at the Stillwater state prison face federal charges in connection with an alleged meth-distribution ring inside the facility.

Prison guard Faith Rose Gratz, 24, of St. Paul, was charged in April with one count of possession and one count of intent to sell methamphetamine after police said they found a half-pound of methamphetamine in her truck. According to police, text messages showed Gratz was delivering drugs to people being held at the prison.

Gratz now faces two additional federal charges: one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger.

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Axel Kramer, 34 — who is serving a 24-year sentence for second-degree murder at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater — also faces the same federal charges, Luger said.

Police said they launched an investigation into Gratz after finding a cell phone belonging to Kramer at the Stillwater state prison, according to a criminal complaint.

Gratz gave Kramer cell phones to send her romantic and "drug-related messages," including one in which Kramer arranged for her to pick up a half-pound of methamphetamine on April 4, police said.

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According to police, Gratz and Kramer talked about bringing drugs into the prison when she returned to work a few days later.

Bayport police and investigators from the Stillwater prison searched Gratz's truck as she arrived for work early on April 8 and found a package with about a half-pound of methamphetamine, the criminal complaint states.

She told police she carried packages into the prison about six times over the previous four months, according to the charges. Gratz said she didn't initially know what was in the packages but later learned they contained drugs, the complaint states.

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