ST. CLOUD – A nonprofit founder and former member of St. Cloud’s planning commission has admitted to illegally selling a gun last year.
Lenora O. Hunt, 38, was charged with one gross misdemeanor count of illegally transferring a gun in July 2024. On Tuesday, Hunt pleaded guilty and Stearns County Judge Nathaniel Welte sentenced her to 90 days in jail, stayed, and fees of $189.
According to the criminal complaint, investigators from the Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force last year used an informant to purchase a firearm from Devounteono L. Tyson, whom the task force had been investigating for allegedly selling large quantities of fentanyl pills and firearms in St. Cloud.
Investigators collected phone records that show Tyson communicated with Hunt about the cost of the firearm and then went to her nonprofit, Too Much Talent, in St. Cloud. Investigators watched Tyson enter the nonprofit and leave with a pistol. “Hunt failed to take any measures to comply with Minnesota statutes that regulate firearm transfers,” the complaint states.
Before Tyson met with Hunt, the task force also recorded him discussing Hunt’s run for city office and “being able to help Tyson and several co-defendants with criminal cases once she wins,” the complaint states.
In May 2024, Hunt filed to run for St. Cloud City Council and was eliminated in the August primary with less than 3% of the vote.
The complaint against Hunt says that during the investigation, “numerous co-conspirators” who were later charged with fentanyl distribution frequented the nonprofit building.
After Hunt was charged, she resigned from the city’s planning commission, which is a seven-member board appointed by the mayor and approved by the City Council.
