Former Stillwater prison inmate gets 15 years for meth distribution scheme inside the facility

A former Stillwater prison inmate was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison Tuesday for distributing methamphetamine to fellow inmates with help from a corrections officer who smuggled in the drug.

Axel Rene Kramer, 37, received his sentence in U.S. District Court in St. Paul after pleading guilty Jan. 5 to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. The sentence was the mandatory minimum and includes 10 years of supervised release following incarceration.

Kramer and corrections officer Faith Rose Gratz ran the drug operation at the state's largest high-security prison for at least three months in early 2022, when Kramer was serving a murder sentence. The two had a romantic relationship, according to federal prosecutors.

Gratz, 26, of Circle Pines, pleaded guilty to the same charge in September 2022. Gratz, who had been a corrections officer at the prison for nearly two years, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.

According to the federal indictment , Kramer obtained "wholesale quantities" of prepackaged methamphetamine from sources outside the prison. After Kramer and an unindicted co-conspirator inmate worked with the drug suppliers to arrange meet-up times and locations, Gratz would pick up the drug packages.

Gratz then smuggled the meth into the prison and gave them to Kramer while she was on duty guarding him.

Gratz also smuggled in cellphones for Kramer and warned him about upcoming searches of inmates' cells so he could hide his phone and drugs to avoid detection. Kramer used the cellphones to communicate with people inside and outside the prison and carry out his drug distribution network.

The drug operation was discovered in April 2022 after prison officers found Kramer's cellphone, which Gratz had given to him. They had exchanged hundreds of text messages with each other about the drug distribution conspiracy and about their romantic relationship, including talk of getting married once Kramer was done serving his prison sentence. Gratz's cellphone number was saved in Kramer's phone as "Bbygirl."

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After finding Kramer's cellphone, prison officers confronted Gratz after she arrived for work on April 8, 2022. When they served a search warrant, they found half a pound of meth under the back seat of her car.

Gratz later admitted to bringing packages of meth to Kramer six times.

In June 2010, Kramer was sentenced to 24 years in prison for the killing of 20-year-old Alberto Samilpa Jr., who was found shot, stabbed and badly burned north of Windom, Minn. Kramer was one of four men who reached plea deals and were convicted of second-degree murder in the killing and sentenced to prison.

Kramer had been under supervision of the Department of Corrections since March 3. Most inmates in Minnesota serve two-thirds of their prison sentence incarcerated and the remaining third on supervised release.