A Minneapolis man hit with drug charges after a housekeeper at a downtown St. Paul hotel spotted two bags of fentanyl pills hidden in his room was sentenced to nearly 12 years in federal prison on Wednesday.

A housekeeper at InterContinental St. Paul Riverfront in May 2023 saw the bags of pills behind an ice bucket and under a shelf in a room rented by Giorgio Jovan Baymon, according to a federal indictment. The bags contained 8,500 pills, which weighed 858.16 grams and tested positive for fentanyl.

Giorgio Jovan Baymon (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Baymon, 37, was arrested upon returning to the hotel that night. About 16 months prior, he was released from prison and put on supervised release as part of a nearly 14-year sentence for aiding and abetting prostitution of a minor.

Baymon initially faced two first-degree drug charges in Ramsey County. Federal prosecutors picked up the case and a grand jury indicted him on two charges: conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl related to the St. Paul incident.

In September, he pleaded guilty to the latter charge. As part of a plea agreement, he admitted to distributing fentanyl in Mankato and St. Paul from January 2023 until his arrest.

According to state and federal court documents, police were called to the hotel at Kellogg Boulevard and Wabasha Street around 1:30 p.m. May 2, 2023, after a housekeeper collected the pills from the room and took them to the manager’s office.

Surveillance video showed Baymon checking into the hotel alone the day before.

Officers saw Baymon and another man return to the hotel shortly before midnight. Upon seeing officers, Baymon ran through the hotel. At one point, he pulled a fire alarm. When officers found him in the basement, he stomped on his phone before he was arrested. He had his hotel key card on him.

Officers executed a search warrant on Baymon’s room and found nothing of note. A woman who was with the man accompanying Baymon said the two of them drove down from the St. Cloud area to purchase pills.

Three previous felonies

Baymon’s criminal history also includes felony convictions — all in Ramsey County — for second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in 2008, domestic assault in 2011 and violating an order for protection in 2012.

In the gun case, Baymon fired shots at a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy outside a Maplewood nightclub on May 16, 2008. The deputy, who was providing security at Club Crystal, was not struck. Baymon told authorities he fired shots in anger after his brother’s cellphone and jewelry were taken during a fight, according to court documents. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

In 2012, Baymon and another man were charged with sex trafficking of minors, inducing minors for prostitution and promotion of prostitution of minors. According to charges, they took two teenage girls, ages 16 and 17, to an Eagan hotel room, where the girls had sex with three men.

Baymon was sentenced to 13 years and eight months in prison in January 2013. He was put on supervised release in December 2021. Most inmates in Minnesota serve two-thirds of their prison sentence incarcerated and the remaining third on supervised release.

‘Extremely dangerous and addictive drug’

At Wednesday’s sentencing in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Baymon faced between 10 and 12½ years in prison based on the severity of the offense and his criminal history.

The prosecution asked U.S. District Court Judge Ann Montgomery to give him a 12-year sentence.

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“As outlined in the (presentence investigation report), the defendant trafficked over 400 grams of fentanyl,” Assistant U.S. Attorney William Mattessich wrote in a memo to the judge ahead of sentencing. “Given that a typical dose of fentanyl is less than one milligram, the amount of fentanyl the defendant trafficked represents hundreds of thousands of doses of this extremely dangerous and addictive drug.”

Baymon’s attorney, Patrick Leach, asked for the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, citing his unstable upbringing, substance abuse and remorse.

Montgomery chose an 11½ year sentence, which includes five years of supervised probation following incarceration.