For nearly three years, Timothy Allen Torell Wetzstein kept running afoul of Twin Cities law enforcement, leading officers on high-speed chases and being found with a firearm and a cache of drugs that swelled in each of the four run-ins that dated back to October 2020.
What federal prosecutors would later bill as a "drug-and-gun-and-fleeing escapade" started when Wetzstein raced away from an attempted traffic stop at speeds of more than 120 miles per hour. Officers found 82 grams of meth and a .22 caliber revolver when the chase ended. The drug amounts kept growing each time police stopped Wetzstein after that chase: 1,491 grams of meth in June 2021, 2,199 grams of meth and 47 grams of fentanyl in July 2022, 2,146 grams of meth and 260 grams of fentanyl during his latest arrest following a foot chase a year later.
In all of those episodes, according to court documents, police found firearms – including one he tossed during his July 2023 arrest, three more in a backpack in his car at the time, and an additional three guns held at a storage locker rented by Wetzstein.
On Monday, Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz sentenced Wetzstein to 13 1/2 years in federal prison in a case his own attorney described as a "blessing in disguise" for a man whose life has been saturated with abuse and addiction.
"How nothing more serious than property damage occurred is a minor miracle, and he knows it," attorney James Becker wrote in a memo to the court outlining his arguments for sentencing. "Again, Mr. Wetzstein agrees that significant punishment is warranted. And it is in this process that his path to redemption and rehabilitation has been divined, and Mr. Wetzstein is presently walking this path."
A message was left seeking comment after Wetzstein's Monday sentencing in Minneapolis.
Schiltz's sentencing judgment – which includes five years of supervised release once Wetzstein is released – split the difference between the 11 years Becker asked for and the more than 15 years sought by the government. Wetzstein quickly pleaded guilty to possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine last fall, in exchange for the dismissal of numerous gun and drug charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Campbell Warner likewise noted in the government's own position pleadings how remarkable it was that no one was hurt or killed during Wetzstein's run-ins with law enforcement since 2020. Warner wrote that Minneapolis police did not shoot the man when he pulled a pistol from his waistband during one encounter.
Wetzstein racked up four felony convictions before his arrest last year – controlled substance possession, check forgery and two thefts – three of which took place since 2020. Throughout that time, however, he managed to access firearms while being legally barred from possessing them.
"At some point, a defendant must run out of chances," Warner wrote. "At some point, the criminal justice system's patience is exhausted. At some point, enough is enough. The time has come for Mr. Wetzstein to face meaningful consequences."
