| Drug investigation nets three arrests |
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Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 7:22 pm
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ST. PETER — Three men face felony drug charges as the result of an on-going investigation by the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force and other law enforcement agencies that has taken place in Nicollet and Le Sueur counties.
Two of the men have been charged in Le Sueur County, while the third suspect was charged in Nicollet County. All of the charges are related to the possession and/or sale of methamphetamine.
The two charged in Le Sueur County includes:
• Thomas Van Anthony, 44, St. Peter, who has been charged with felony first degree sale of a controlled substance. The maximum penalty for the first degree felony charge is 40 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
• Wayne Allen Swanson, 44, of Le Sueur, who has been charged with felony first degree possession of a controlled substance and fifth degree possession of a controlled substance. The maximum penalty for the first degree felony charge is 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine and for the third degree charge it is 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
The other suspect charged in Nicollet County was Charles William Lemert, 47, of Henderson. Lemert has been charged with felony fifth degree possession of methamphetamine. The maximum penalty for that charge is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Court documents show that the initial investigation began January 16 through agents of the Drug Task Force along with investigators and officers from the Nicollet County Sheriff’s Office, St. Peter Police and the Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office.
That investigation focused on information received which indicated Anthony was trafficking large amounts of methamphetamine in various areas including Nicollet and Le Sueur counties.
During the course of the investigation, a confidential informant had made arrangements to meet Anthony on three different occasions to purchase methamphetamine, and the substance that was obtained during each buy tested positive for the presence of methamphetamine and totaled 15.26 grams.
The first purchase allegedly took place at the informant’s residence in Le Sueur on Jan. 16, the second time at Anthony’s residence in St. Peter on Jan. 18 and the third time the informant met Anthony in a Mankato parking lot on Jan. 20. There, the informant gave Anthony money for the meth, but the informant was instructed to go to a residence in rural Le Sueur to pick it up. It was later learned that Swanson lived at that residence.
In each case, Anthony was given pre-recorded drug buy funds for the purchases. That money was later recovered during the execution of a search warrant at Anthony’s St. Peter residence, located on the 400 block of West Wabasha Street.
As part of the investigation, a search warrant was also obtained and executed at Swanson’s rural Le Sueur home. There several items were found which were consistent for the use of methamphetamine and marijuana and a plastic baggie containing 4 grams of meth was also located. Other tablets were also found there which were later identified as other controlled substances including eight tablets of Percocet, and two tablets of Klonopin.
Swanson was later arrested and transported to the Le Sueur County Jail.
During an interview with investigators, Swanson allegedly admitted he had purchased the meth earlier that day and to get the meth delivered to him, he simply called a phone number and hung up without speaking to anyone. The person on the other line would know to bring him some meth, however, he did not know to whom the phone number belonged.
On January 20, during the course of the investigation, officers observed Anthony and another man get into a vehicle outside Anthony’s home in St. Peter, and eventually travel southbound on Highway 169.
A felony stop was made, with the assistance of Mankato Police, near the intersection of Highway 14.
Anthony was eventually taken into custody, while Lemert wasn’t initially arrested but given the nature of the investigation and stop, he was searched.
During the initial search a glass pipe commonly used for smoking meth was found on him.
Subsequently, three other glass smoking devices and a small vile containing a small amount of a white crystalline substance, which later tested positive for the presence of meth, were also found in Lemert’s possession.
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