PEMBINA, N.D. (AP) — A Minnesota man faces charges after allegedly trying to bring 12 grams of crystal methamphetamine across the U.S.-Canada border in northeastern North Dakota.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say they arrested 35-year-old Seth King, of Detroit Lakes, Minn., on Dec. 27. Authorities say an inspection of his vehicle turned up 23 small plastic bags of crystal meth and one larger bag, along with drug paraphernalia.

King was turned over to Pembina County authorities for prosecution. It was not immediately clear if he had obtained an attorney, and a working home telephone listing for him could not immediately be found.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ­– A man was arrested Sunday night after an attempted burglary in Brook Park, Minn., according to authorities.

Police said a witness reported a man exiting a home at 6:43 p.m. Sunday on the 1000 block of Cross Park Road carrying several bags.

When the man spotted the witness, he dropped the bags, got into his car and drove away.

Officials said the witness followed the suspect until the suspect got stuck in the snow at Mallard and Sunny Hill roads.

When deputies arrived on the scene, the man exited his vehicle and hid behind it until officers drew their guns and ordered him to show himself.

Eventually, the suspect complied and was apprehended by deputies.

Reports said while being handcuffed, police found a large amount of methamphetamine on him.

Police said they spoke with the witness and contacted the property owner.

Formal charges are pending.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 22-year-old man is charged with felony narcotics possession, with intent to deliver, after about 25 pounds of crystal meth was found in his vehicle, according to authorities.

Roberto Ortiz, of Minneapolis, was pulled over in Arlington Heights, Ill. around 5:50 p.m. Saturday on the 200 block of East Algonquin Road after an officer saw him commit traffic violations.

After getting consent to search the vehicle, officers found approximately 25 pounds of meth under the driver’s seat and in a box in the back of the vehicle.

(credit: Cook County)

The meth has an estimated street value of $1.75 million.

Ortiz was arrested on scene. He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 22-year-old man faces charges after police say he took his 2-year-old boy to a “dope house,” where the boy became high, after another individual was smoking meth in front of him.

According to the criminal complaint, police met with Joseph Michael Ray, of St. Paul, on Sunday after being called to Children’s Hospital regarding a child placement. Upon arrival, the boy was being cared for by medical staff who said the toddler appeared to be high on something.

The boy was lethargic and unresponsive when he was brought to the hospital by medics, according to the charges.

Ray told police he has been caring for the boy at his grandmother’s house for the past five weeks. He said he took his son to a “dope house” across the street from his grandmother’s residence, on the 600 block of East Jessamine Avenue in St. Paul about two days ago.

Ray said one of the residents at the “dope house” was smoking meth and acknowledged he and his son shouldn’t have been there, according to the charges.

Ray said his friend’s mother gave his son some Tylenol after noticing the boy looked “kinda sick.” Later that day, Ray said the boy “got really sunk-eyed.”

Ray said the boy went to sleep around 12:30 a.m. and appeared to be in a deep, deep sleep. He and his father tried to wake the boy but he was pale, dehydrated and had chapped lips, according to the charges.

Officials say the toddler has a positive screen for the presence of amphetamine in his system.

Ray was arrested and charged with endangerment of a child, as well as violation of a domestic abuse, no contact order. On Feb. 7, Ray was sentenced on a count of felony terroristic threats in Ramsey County.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The suspect in a Twin Cities kidnapping case was arrested in downtown Los Angeles Thursday after attempting to run from police officers.

Jesus Ramirez, 31, is charged with four counts of kidnapping and one count of aggravated robbery in the first degree.

According to the criminal complaint, the Safe Streets Task Force began investigating a possible abduction case around 6 p.m. April 14.

Upon investigation, police learned two people had been abducted.

According to the criminal complaint, a witness told police the victims had been taken in the 3200 block of 19th Avenue in Minneapolis by four Hispanic men.

The witness said the men had approached the victims in an alley with a gun and forced them into a car.

Police said one of the victim’s family began receiving calls a little after 6 p.m. from the hostage takers claiming the victim had taken 30 pounds of methamphetamine from them.

They demanded the drugs be returned or a payment of $300,000 be given to them and threatened the victim and the family if the demands were not met, according to police.

On April 15, police were able to locate the victims and learned that the victims had been tied to chairs and tortured by the men.

One of the victim’s pink fingers had been severed during the attack.

The suspects had also taken the victim’s cellphones, but police were able to recover one of the phones from the abduction site.

According to the criminal complaint, one of the victims described one of the suspects as having a skull tattoo with horns on his neck.

Using that description and information from the recovered phone, police were able to locate two of the men at the 900 block of Palace Avenue in St. Paul, Minn.

Police arrested Jonathan Delgado Alvarez, 22, and Antonio Navarro, 19, from the house.

Alvarez confessed to the abduction and told police he had flown from California to Minnesota with Ramirez and one other man, police said.

Ramirez had left the residence prior to police arrival.

According to the Associated Press, Los Angeles police located Ramirez on Thursday.

Ramirez then led police on a car chase and eventually fled on foot. Officers later found and arrested Ramirez in a North Hollywood motel.

If found guilty, Ramirez faces 20 years in prison, a $35,000 fine or both for each charge.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Four men have been indicted on charges alleging they kidnapped and tortured two men they suspected of stealing drugs and money from a St. Paul “stash house,” federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

The kidnappers released their victims, but not before nearly severing one victim’s finger while interrogating him in the house, court papers allege.

State prosecutors say the house was controlled by a Mexican drug cartel, though court documents don’t say which one and federal prosecutors declined to comment.

All four were indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. One was also indicted on one count of using a gun during a drug crime.

“The allegations in the indictment are a frightening reminder of the violent capabilities of drug traffickers,” U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said in a statement.

The indictment unsealed Tuesday and other court papers say the four men suspected the victims stole or knew who stole about 30 pounds of methamphetamine and $200,000 from the stash house last month. It names Jesus Ramirez, 31, of Los Angeles; Jonatan Delgado Alvarez, 22, of Los Angeles; Juan Ricardo Elenes Villavazo, also known as Chapo, 32, of St. Paul; and Antonio Navarro, also known as Tony Sanchez, 19, of St. Paul.

The defendants released the victims after determining they didn’t know what happened to the drugs, the documents say.

Navarro and Alvarez were arrested outside the house April 15. Ramirez was arrested after a police chase in the Los Angeles area April 17. Villavazo remains at large, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

The indictment alleges Navarro and Villavazo ran the stash house, and that Ramirez and Alvarez flew from Los Angeles on April 14 to try to recover the stolen meth or enough cash to cover it. It alleges they kidnapped two men from behind a Minneapolis residence and beat them, held a gun to their heads, and threatened to kill them and their families.

Court papers allege Villavazo tried to cut off one victim’s left pinky with scissors, causing him to pass out, while the others held him down. The documents say the victim later underwent surgery but that it was unclear if he would regain the ability to move his finger.

State kidnapping and other charges filed last month against Navarro, Ramirez and Delgado are on hold pending the outcome of the federal case, said Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesman for the Ramsey County attorney’s office.

Attorney Anthony Deutz represented Ramirez on the state charges. He declined to comment specifically on the federal charges but added “I think he got caught up in this and that he was not involved.” It wasn’t immediately clear if Delgado or Navarro had lawyers.

All four defendants face a potential maximum of life in prison if convicted on the drug count, while Ramirez also faces a potential a minimum of seven years for allegedly using a gun to kidnap and threaten the victims, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 30-year-old man is in custody and charged with a felony after police say he was caught cooking meth in a storage facility in St. Paul.

According to the criminal complaint, Matthew Lee Krause was in the middle of cooking methamphetamine on May 9 in a storage locker at the Minikahda Storage facility at 1441 Hunting Valley Road when he opened the door and saw police officers.

Officers had responded to a report of a man who was trying to recover tools that Krause had allegedly stolen. He told police there would be trouble if Krause saw him because he had a rifle or a shotgun. The man told police Krause had been cooking meth.

When Krause opened the door, officers could see a full meth lab in plain view and a woman asleep in a chair. Krause and the woman were taken into custody.

Krause was a student at the University of Minnesota from fall of 2010 to spring 2013. He did not earn a degree and is not currently enrolled, according to university officials.

Krause was also employed in the College of Biological Sciences as an undergraduate research assistant in plant biology. His employment ended in June of last year.

Police found a set of several master keys to the university in Krause’s 2001 Jeep Cherokee, along with pseudoephedrine.

Officers were told he cooked meth in a lab on campus in the past and stole property from the university, including chemicals. University of Minnesota Police are investigating those claims and allegations.

After obtaining a search warrant of the storage unit, officers found several chemicals, filters and glassware. They also learned Krause rented four additional storage lockers at the facility, which is two miles away from campus. He also appeared to be living there.

Two separate Pyrex 500 mL beakers that contained fluid were tested and both were positive for methamphetamine.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi says it’s possible that Krause was involved in more than the manufacturing of meth.

“There’s a presumption he was engaged in some sort of distribution, or dealing as well,” Choi said.

Michael Paul, who lives near the storage facility, says there has been a rash of thefts in his neighborhood.

“We’ve had stuff stolen,” Paul said. “Who knows, it could have been the same person.”

The investigation will continue to determine the quantity of methamphetamine being produced.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — According to a new research report, heroin-related problems are still strong in the Twin Cities and methamphetamine is emerging as a growing drug of concern.

The report, titled “Drug Abuse Trends in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Metropolitan Area: June 2014,” was released Tuesday by Drug Abuse Dialogues.

The report says a record-high 14 percent of admissions to metro area addition treatment programs were for heroin in 2013. Among those admissions, 40.2 percent of them were between 18 and 25 years old.

“The magnitude and serious nature of the heroin problem in the Twin Cities is glaringly apparent in 2013,” said Carol Falkowski, report author. “The recent upward trends concerning methamphetamine, and deaths due to synthetic drugs reflect the ever-changing nature of the drug abuse situation.”

Some of the recent signs of meth’s upward trend include: deaths from the drug rose from 10 to 24 from 2011 to 2013 and treatment admissions rose from 7.4 percent in 2012 to 10 percent in 2013.

In addition to heroin and meth problems, accidental opiate-related deaths rose from 84 to 132 in Hennepin County – a 57.1 percent increase. In Ramsey County, however, deaths fell from 45 to 37.

Click here for the full report.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A state trooper made a big discovery after pulling over a driver in Rochester.

The trooper found $3,000 worth of stolen instruments in the car.

Marvin Bale, Ricky Perron, and Kathleen Bielen, all from Rochester, were arrested.

The instruments came from Destiny Church, where troopers say there was evidence of a break-in.

The trooper also found six grams of meth in the car.

The trio are expected to face burglary and drug charges.

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — A Minot man has been charged in a methamphetamine bust on Interstate 94 in Minnesota.

Justin Allen Hanson was arrested last weekend while Highway Patrol troopers were participating in a special enforcement campaign along Interstates 94 and 90. Police received a tip that Hanson was driving erratically on the highway.

Hanson is charged in Douglas County, Minnesota, with two counts of possession of a controlled substance, fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Authorities allege that he had more than 50 grams of meth.

Bail has been set at $600,000.

Court documents do not list an attorney for Hanson.

(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 19-year-old Kasson man is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of a Byron teen, who died outside on a subzero morning after a night of drug use.

According to the Dodge County Attorney’s Office, Darren James Rice is accused of kicking 15-year-old Noah Graddy out of Rice’s grandmother’s house in the early morning of Jan. 22.

Graddy and two others went to Rice’s residence on the night of Jan. 21 after purchasing methamphetamine in Rochester earlier that evening.

The victim, Rice and two others spent the night smoking meth and ingesting Coricidein tablets in Rice’s bedroom. Early the next morning, Rice and one other became irritated with Graddy’s loud and strange behavior.

Rice soon told Graddy to leave his house because he feared his grandmother would wake up. Graddy left, reportedly leaving a note which read, “Thanks for using me until all my money was gone.”

Graddy’s parents filed a theft report on Jan. 19 after $600 in cash was stolen from their locked bedroom closet. They suspected their son was the culprit.

Four days later, they filed a missing person’s report for Graddy. They told authorities that their son hung out with a group of teens from Kasson.

When Graddy left Rice’s Kasson house the morning of Jan 22, it was between minus 9 and minus 20 degrees outside. On March 20, Graddy’s body was found in the fetal position near railroad tracks east of Kasson. He was buried in snow. Graddy was known to walk those tracks to go between Kasson and his home in Byron.

His autopsy report indicated that he died of hypothermia and acute intoxication from the effects of meth, bupropion, dextromethorphan and chlorpheniramine.

Rice is also charged with one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He could face up to 11 years in prison if found guilty of both charges.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A St. Augusta man and a St. Cloud woman are expected to face several criminal charges after police found about $300,000 worth of methamphetamine in their possession Thursday.

According to the Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force, 34-year-old Joseph McMahon was arrested at his St. Augusta home after officers served a search warrant. They found six pounds of meth, which has a street value of $260,000.

Officers also found about $4,000 in cash and a gun that was reported stolen in Wright County. He is expected to be charged with first-degree possession of a controlled substance, felon in possession of a firearm and possession of stolen property.

McMahon is awaiting charges in the Stearns County Jail. Family members who were at the residence during the arrest will not face any charges.

Officers also served a warrant at a St. Cloud home Thursday, where they arrested 25-year-old Alyssa Jarecki. Investigators found methylone, aka “Molly,” marijuana and a pound of meth — which has a street value of $38,000.

They also found more than $4,000 in cash and a gun that was reported stolen in Sauk Rapids.

Jarecki is expected to be charged with first- and fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance and possession of stolen property. She also had outstanding warrants, and is currently in the Benton County Jail.

Both McMahon’s and Jarecki’s cash was seized and is subject to forfeiture.

The Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force is made up of officers from the police departments of Little Falls, St. Cloud and Sartell. Deputies from Benton, Morrison, Sherburne, Stearns and Todd counties are also partners.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Lino Lakes woman faces charges after police say she was seen smoking meth in a McDonald’s parking lot with a 14-year-old child in the car.

Brandie Lea Triplett, 38, faces one count of meth-related crimes involving children, one count of possessing meth and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia.

The charges stem from the afternoon of Nov. 8. According to a criminal complaint, Lino Lakes police were called to the McDonald’s on 610 Apollo Drive on a report of a woman “smoking drugs” with a child in the car. The caller gave police the woman’s license, and the number was registered to Triplett.

When police got to the McDonald’s, Triplett was gone, but the caller was still there. He said he was parked next to the car bearing Triplett’s license, and clearly saw a woman doing drugs.

Police then went to Triplett’s home and told her about the complaint. She admitted to being at McDonald’s but denied doing drugs, the complaint states.

Police said Triplett appeared to be intoxicated, and an officer arrested her, as an active warrant was out for her arrest in Wright County.

In a search of her vehicle, police found two glass pipes with meth residue and a baggie containing 1.2 grams of meth.

If convicted of the charges, Triplett faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and/or a fine of more than $20,000.

OWATONNA, Minn. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged an East Bethel man with possessing nearly $500,000 worth of methamphetamine.

The Owatonna People’s Press reports a state trooper arrested 24-year-old Edgar Cisneros Jr. with 10 pounds of the drug in his vehicle during a traffic stop Wednesday on Interstate 35 in Steele County.

Prosecutors have charged him with first-degree possession of a controlled substance, sale of a controlled substance and importing a controlled substance across state lines. He faces a maximum sentence of 65 years and $2.25 million in fines if he’s convicted.

Owatonna police say the local street value of methamphetamine is about $100 a gram. At 10 pounds, the drugs police say they found in Cisneros’ vehicle are worth about $453,592.

(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — This holiday season, WCCO’s “Trees of Hope” campaign is partnering with organizations that help make lives brighter all year long.

This week, our set is decked out in colorful ornaments and ribbons to celebrateMinnesota Adult and Teen Challenge. The group offers treatment plans for our neighbors who are struggling with addiction.

Some of the people being treated are students, others are grandparents. Some are on the streets, while others are working professionals who hide addiction well.

One couple especially shows what the program is all about. Seth and Gina Evans seem like a pretty typical couple, at a glance. But things aren’t always as they appear.

“I have done just about every drug that’s imaginable and done just about everything necessary to maintain that addiction,” Seth said.

Gina says she began using drugs as a teenager.

“I started using IV drugs when I was 15 years old, ended up in jail the first time at 16. And as an adult, I have 12 felony convictions,” Gina said. “I’ve been to Shakopee Women’s Prison three different times, the state of Minnesota permanently terminated my parental rights for my kids.”

So how did these parents from Stacy go from being legally bound from their kids to sharing family vacations in Cancun?

“When I got out of prison the last time, I came to Teen Challenge and really learned that I’m redeemable,” she said. “That I may have made those mistakes in my life, but that I’m not a mistake.”

But to fully understand how far Seth and Gina have come, you have to go back.

“Being a part of a really dysfunctional family growing up … I didn’t feel like I deserved anything,” Gina said.

Seth says he was living on his own at 15, and became an IV user around that time.

Their lives had never intersected at that point, but their paths were parallel.

“I think that that’s a thing that Seth and I definitely have in common,” Gina said. “There was a point in our lives where we just decided that ‘no more,’ and Teen Challenge was just instrumental in that change.”

For Seth, a young father who had ended up in Minneapolis because of the drug market, he heard about the program while locked up,

“From what I saw, I had never met anyone in jail that had graduated the program, and so that said something to me about its success rate,” Seth said.

So a pastor dropped him off with just the old shirt on his back.

“When I walked through the doors of Teen Challenge, it was immediate acceptance. People that poured love over me. I mean, I was accepted,” he said. “Within a half hour, I had a closet full of clothes.”

He enrolled in a 13-month program, and Gina was enrolled in a similar one.

“After a few months, my colors kinda started showing through, attitudes really started to show through,” she said.

Seth says it was no longer about swapping recipes for meth.

“It was about helping each other out,” he said.

With hours and hours of counseling, and programs to show them what life can be like after drugs, they both successfully graduated. And a few years later, Seth and Gina met at an alumni event.

Now Seth uses his knowledge of the hard life as a chaplain in the Ramsey County Jail. And Gina uses her hustling skills to problem solve as a Teen Challenge staffer.

“They really taught me that I could draw a line in the sand and say, ‘I may have been that person before, but here’s who I am now,'” Gina said.

The couple blended families and added a grandson, all thanks to a place that gave them a clear picture of what could be.

The program that changed the Evans’ lives is free. That’s why donations to this group are so important.

Click here to give to Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — When we talk about drug rehabilitation, most of us think it only deals with sobriety.

But a big part of recovery also focuses on rebuilding relationships destroyed by drug use.

In this edition of our “Trees of Hope” series, we focus on how Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge helped a mother and daughter reconnect.

For Missy Smith and Espy Pena, quietly working side by side is worth remembering.

“Before she would yell at me, call me names,” Pena said.

It wasn’t long ago that this mother and daughter duo had no relationship. Drugs ripped apart their family.

“We were always fighting and I just didn’t want to be around her,” Smith said.

Stuck in the throes of meth addiction, Smith turned to Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge for help.

The faith-based program showed her the path to sobriety over the last 12 months.

“I just feel like a different woman and it has to do with having a relationship with Jesus Christ,” Pena said.

Smith, now 18, followed her mother into drug use at age 11. This time, she would follow her mom’s lead again.

“I wanted what she had, so I came to Teen Challenge,” Smith said.

By working this program together, the two not only found sobriety, but each other.

“Me and her have, like, the best relationship now and it’s so amazing,” Smith said.

“Every day that I see her, she’s like, ‘My mama!’ and just hugs me — and I never had that before,” Pena said.

This new-found relationship gave Missy confidence to repair the bonds broken with her other children.

“[My other daughter] got a hold of me here. Now I’m building that relationship back,” Pena said.

Addiction nearly destroyed their family. But through recovery, Pena and Smith rebuilt their support system to face life after their program.

“I know that there’s a whole new world out there that I didn’t know about, and I can raise my kids up knowing what I’ve learned here this year,” Pena said.

Smith will graduate from her program in May.

If you’d like to help Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge continue its work, click here.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Minneapolis man already facing conspiracy charges is now also facing charges for allegedly possessing methamphetamine.

Abbas Ateia Al Hussainawee, 40, has been charged with conspiracy to engage with interstate transportation of stolen goods and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

According to U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger, Al Hussainawee was allegedly acting as a runner for members of the Mustafa Organization.

“In August, my office charged 20 defendants with conspiracy to steal and sell mobile devices on the underground market,” Luger said.

According to the criminal complaint, the Mustafa Organization illegally obtained cell phones and other mobile devices through runners from 2006 to 2014.

The runners would steal or obtain the devices and sell them to the organization.

According to the criminal complaint, Al Hussainawee obtained the devices by breaking into the stores.

Luger said Al Hussainawee would break into a store that was located next to one selling phones, or other devices. Once inside, he would break through the wall the stores shared.

He specifically targeted strip malls.

According to the criminal complaint, Al Hussainawee broke into a Best Buy in Maplewood on Nov. 27, 2012. He stole 48 cell phones, 20 iPads and five tablet computers.

In March of 2014, he broke into a Verizon store in Menomonie, Wis. and stole $32,000 worth of cell phones and iPads.

On July 14, 2014, Al Hussainawee stole 44 cell phones and iPads from a Verizon store in Waconia, totaling $22,279.97.

He also burglarized a Verizon Store in Buffalo on Dec. 12, 2014. He stole $33,015 in cell phones.

Authorities believe he is responsible for burglarizing, or attempted burglary, on at least 22 stores.

Luger said Al Hussainawee is now facing charges on possession with intent to sell after authorities found 268 grams of meth in his house.

The case is currently awaiting trial.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A drug pipeline that supplied meth from the Twin Cities to North Dakota has shut down.

Strangely enough, it all started with electronics stolen from homes and businesses in Grand Forks and Twin Cities suburbs.

The investigation began in North Dakota, according to Minneapolis Police Sgt. Scott Downing.

“Grand Forks, North Dakota and the University of North Dakota made a connection to a series of burglaries out there being committed by the same group of individuals,” Downing said.

Laptops, computers and even large projectors were taken from campus.

Investigators there linked the burglaries to eBay, where the stolen merchandise was being sold. The account holder is from south Minneapolis.

“Investigators of the Fifth Precinct here, we conducted a search warrant on their behalf and recovered some of the items that they were looking for,” Downing said.

He says investigators did more digging and realized this operation involved more than just stealing and re-selling electronics.

“It was actually connected to a group of individuals selling narcotics,” Downing said. “Specifically they were trading the items for methamphetamine, which they were transporting back up to North Dakota and selling it.”

Investigators served another search warrant that turned up more than $40,000 in electronics.

The burglaries were not just in North Dakota; homes and businesses in Twin Cities’ suburbs like Maple Grove were also hit.

What was stolen was traded for drugs.

“It was roughly anywhere between $200 to $400 worth of methamphetamine that they were receiving in exchange for the stolen computers and laptops and such that they were bringing down,” Downing said. “The resale value of methamphetamine up in the North Dakota area is two to three times the value of what it is being currently sold for here in Minneapolis.”

Not only did police slow down burglaries in two states, they were also vital in shutting down a drug pipeline that went from the Twin Cities to North Dakota.

“If the preliminary information that we have is any indication, he was definitely involved in a lot of stuff, and hopefully this will help slow it down a little bit,” Downing said.

Police have not identified the man they think traded the stolen electronics for drugs.

He may face federal drug charges for distributing narcotics across state lines.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A San Jose, Calif. man has been charged for allegedly attempting to bring nearly four pounds of meth across state lines into Minnesota.

Eddy Antonio Cardenas, 33, faces one count of possession of a controlled substance and one count of felon in possession of firearm.

According to the criminal complaint, on Jan. 28 Minnesota State Patrol stopped a silver Audi with California license plates for having a broken driver’s side tail light and window tint that exceeded allowable darkness.

The car had been under visual surveillance by undercover officers for roughly 40 miles before being stopped.

Authorities said upon attempting to stop the car the driver, later identified as Cardenas, did not stop and appeared to try and flee.

When Cardenas eventually pulled the car over he was placed under arrest based on information police had received in regards to him and the contents of the vehicle.

Police said they were told the car was carrying methamphetamine from California to Minnesota. Based on this information, the Minneapolis Drug Task Force was also at the stop.

After the arrest, police searched the car and found three bags of meth and a semiautomatic handgun.

Field testing determined the bags weight 535 grams, 612.8 grams and 598 grams respectively, totaling approximately 3.8 pounds.

Cardenas has a felony assault with a deadly weapon conviction from 2009 and a controlled substance crime conviction from 2005 in California.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) — Brian Fitch Sr. was collecting on methamphetamine debts when he shot and killed Mendota Heights police officer Scott Patrick last July.

Just this week David Winter, who engaged St. Louis Park police in a shootout near a popular grocery store, was known to law enforcement as someone who made meth.

It is also the drug that was behind a recent electronics theft ring in Grand Forks that traded stolen merchandise for methamphetamine in the Twin Cities.

“If there’s any perception out there, that meth is no longer a problem, it still is,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said.

Choi said that after a brief decline around 2010, meth remains Minnesota’s illicit drug of choice. It is especially a problem in outstate counties where there are fewer resources to attack both the manufacture and use of the drug.

“Across the state of Minnesota, if there’s a drug of people being convicted of felonies, its methamphetamine,” Choi said.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, since 2010 the nation’s number of methamphetamine users is up sharply. Confirmed use has risen from 353,000 users in 2010 to some 595,000 in 2013. That is an increase of more than 60 percent.

“I was a daily user,” said former meth addict, Derrick.

He has been clean now for nearly a year.

“On the days I didn’t use or have my drugs, I was sleeping, but as soon as I was rested I was back,” Derrick said.

He is getting help at Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge. Staff there is well aware of the drug’s highly addictive nature and how those manufacturing and selling it will find a way to get it to their customers.

“There’s different ways people are creating it and manufacturing it,” said Teen Challenge program director Adam Pederson. “We need to discover them and find ways to curb it.”