The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

January 6, 2009

Sting nets more than 90 pounds of pot

By Dan Nienaber

NEW ULM — An Arizona man is accused of hiring two Michigan women to deliver more than 41 pounds of marijuana to New Ulm while he flew to Minnesota to finish the deal.

That transaction, which ended with the three being arrested at the Microtel in New Ulm Saturday, is one of three that netted about 90 pounds of marijuana in a drug sting involving two drug task forces. The estimated value of the marijuana recovered is more than a quarter million dollars.

The suspects appeared in Brown County District Court Tuesday for one charge each of felony third-degree drug sales. They are 34-year-old Marvin Laurn Buckner Jr. of Yuma, Ariz.; 38-year-old Bridget Rhannea Clemons of Grand Havon Mich.; and 58-year-old Sally Jean Dora of White Cloud, Mich.

Jeff Hohensee, coordinator for the Brown, Lyon, Redwood Drug Task Force, said he drove to Minneapolis to pick up Buckner at the airport after arranging the deal in New Ulm Saturday. Buckner was brought to New Ulm, where Clemons and Dora arrived later by car.

Investigators working with Hohensee saw the women arrive at the hotel in a rental car from Detroit at about 2:47 p.m., the criminal complaint said. When a search warrant was executed for Buckner’s motel room about six hours later, he was found inside with both women and several large packages of marijuana.

“He’s not your average drug dealer,” Hohensee said Tuesday. “They’ve done this before.”

The investigation started with smaller drug stings done by the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force in the Mankato area, he said. Agents with both task forces worked together to move up the supply chain.

A deal that resulted in 38 pounds of marijuana being seized was arranged first, then a smaller sting that netted about 12 pounds of pot followed, Hohensee said. For the 41-pound deal that resulted in Saturday’s arrests, Buckner had been promised $35,000 in cash up front, then more money when the marijuana was delivered.

The total value of the 91 pounds of marijuana seized in all three deals, figured at a “conservative” $3,000 per pound, is about $273,000, Hohensee said.

A father and son from California were arrested in November at a Mankato hotel with five suitcases filled with nearly 30 pounds of marijuana. Investigators had received a tip they were attempting to sell the pot around town, the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force reported then.

Hohensee said the marijuana recovered through his investigation would have been sold in Mankato, New Ulm and St. Peter areas.

“It is a trend,” he said. “There’s a high demand for marijuana out here and they have a high-quality product. It’s simply supply and demand.”

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