A St. Paul man admitted Tuesday to participating in a methamphetamine trafficking and kidnapping conspiracy tied to a Mexican drug organization.
Erling Holdahl pleaded guilty to one federal count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He is one of 11 defendants linked to the operation, which, according to prosecutors, funneled large quantities of meth into the Twin Cities between July 2023 and January 2025.
Investigators say leaders shipped drugs to Minnesota, where the organization broke them into smaller batches for sale. In January, after someone failed to pay a “substantial amount of money,” Holdahl and three others lured the debtor to a St. Paul location, chained the person to a pole, and held them captive, according to the Justice Department.
Holdahl told police he had been communicating with a man in Mexico named Rana, who claimed Holdahl owed him $10,000 and forced him into drug dealing to pay the debt. He also told investigators he was coerced into “stuff he didn’t want to be involved in,” the charging documents state.
Holdahl claimed masked men armed with “machine guns” brought the victim to the shop’s basement, but surveillance footage did not corroborate his account. The video did not show six masked men or rifles, and Holdahl could identify only one person involved — his co-defendant, Richar Mujica.
Both Mujica and another co-defendant, Kendra Johnson, have already pleaded guilty in the case.
A sentencing date for Holdahl has not been scheduled.
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