Sandstone Man Sentenced to 73 Months for Supplying Meth to Iron Range Dealers

David Allen Hoskins, 62, of Sandstone received a 73-month prison sentence from St. Louis County District Court Judge Rachel Sullivan on March 30, closing a two-year prosecution that identified him as the primary supplier in a drug distribution network feeding dealers across the Iron Range.

The charge, first-degree sale of methamphetamine, carries that weight by statute. Under Minnesota law, first-degree sale covers transactions involving 17 or more grams of methamphetamine or cocaine within a 90-day period, or possession of 50 or more grams. Prosecutors alleged both. Search warrants executed during the 2024 investigation led to the seizure of more than 200 grams of methamphetamine and cocaine from a co-conspirator's home that Hoskins was accused of supplying. The 73-month term falls squarely within the presumptive range under Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines.

Hoskins pleaded guilty on January 29, 2026, avoiding the jury trial that claimed his co-defendant Jennifer Ann Schostag. Schostag was convicted and sentenced to 71 months on November 20, 2025. The near-identical outcomes for both defendants illustrate how tightly sentencing guidelines constrain judicial discretion in first-degree drug cases regardless of whether a defendant admits the charges or fights them at trial.

The investigation that caught them began as a nearly two-month probe centered in Hibbing, led by the Lake Superior Violent Offender Task Force with assistance from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Investigators identified Hoskins as the link connecting metro-area supply to Iron Range street dealers. Surveillance on March 28, 2024, tracked Hoskins and Schostag through Minneapolis and Crystal, where they met with individuals investigators believed were re-supplying them with methamphetamine for distribution northward. A controlled buy conducted earlier that month had already confirmed the pipeline. All three defendants in the case were charged in April 2024 with multiple felony drug counts following the nearly two-month investigation.

County Attorney Kim Maki cast the prosecution as supply-chain interdiction rather than street-level enforcement. "By stopping these shipments before they reach our streets, law enforcement prevents real harm," Maki said. "Disrupting drug trafficking is essential to protecting public safety, stopping addiction, and strengthening our community."

Hoskins received credit for 105 days already served and is set to be housed at St. Cloud Correctional Facility.