Woodbury Man Who Had Threatened Shootout with Police Convicted of Meth Possession

A Woodbury man who has had a series of run-ins with police was recently convicted of third-degree drug possession.

John Albert Gerst, 39, was sentenced to two years in prison, with credit for 139 days served, after Forest Lake police found him in a car with 5.5 grams of methamphetamine.

Gerst has , an incident during which he apparently threatened to hole up in his Woodbury home and engage in a shootout with police.

The latest conviction stems from a Feb. 2 incident in which he and another man, St. Paul resident Allen Todd Young—who was also arrested for driving after his license was revoked—were found with the drugs in their vehicle in Forest Lake.

According to the criminal complaint:

Forest Lake police found a half-empty bottle of Bicardi Rum, a scale used for weighing drugs and 5.5 grams of what was later found to be methamphetamine during a post-arrest inventory search of Gerst's Ford F-150.   

At the time of his arrest, Gerst was serving five years probation for his drug conviction last November and had been ordered to remain drug-free until 2016.

Young was also serving 10 years probation for a 2007 drug conviction. 

Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Sign up for our newsletter