A man who was charged in connection to a drug trafficking and kidnapping conspiracy in St. Paul, Minnesota, pleaded guilty on Monday.

The U.S. Department of Justice says Timothy Ripley was one of 11 people who were associated with a Mexican drug trafficking organization. Between July 2023 and January 2025, leaders arranged for large quantities of methamphetamine to be delivered to the Twin Cities area, where it was broken down into smaller parcels to sell.

In January 2025, someone owed a leader a "substantial amount of money" which they couldn't pay for. Ripley and three of the others who were charged lured the person who owed money to a location in St. Paul, chained them to a pole and held them against their will, the justice department said.

Ripley, of Maple Grove, Minnesota, was federally indicted with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to kidnap. He pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of firearm possession. The state had charged Ripley with one count each of kidnapping for a reward and kidnapping to commit great bodily harm, but those charges were dropped in favor of the federal case.

A sentencing date has not yet been set.