MANKATO — A man stopped because he was suspected of breaking into a vehicle was eventually arrested for dealing marijuana after police allegedly found more than an ounce of the drug in his backpack.
Officers were searching in the area of the intersection of Pohl Road and Timberwolf Drive at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday when they found one of the three suspects they were looking for, according to a criminal complaint. The 19-year-old suspect had alcohol on his breath so an officer asked to see his identification.
When the officer told 19-year-old Levi Dean Erickson he also smelled like marijuana, Erickson removed a pouch from his backpack that had caught the officer’s eye. Erickson open the pouch and showed the officer a glass pot pipe, the complaint said.
At that point Erickson was brought to a squad car and searched. A bag with more than an ounce of marijuana was found in a pouch on the backpack and another bag with about a quarter once of marijuana was found in a front pocket, the complaint said. A box of sandwich bags and a small electronic scale also were found.
The officer checked with another officer who had served on the drug task force and they agreed the evidence found suggested Erickson had been selling the marijuana, which resulted in a request for a felony charge.
Another gross misdemeanor charge of attempting to bring drugs into a jail was requested after another officer found four pills in a plastic wrapper stashed in Erickson’s cigarette package. Three of the four pills were Aprazolam, a prescription drug used to treat anxiety and panic attacks.
Erickson was released from jail Friday after he appeared in court for felony drug sales and possession charges and the gross misdemeanor charge.
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