K9 Assists in Million-Dollar Meth Bust on I-35 in Rice County
Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn applauds a K9 for assisting with the arrest of two Minnesotans allegedly transporting narcotics. Agents with the Cannon River Drug and Violent Offender Task Force (CRDVOTF) conducted a multi-agency narcotics investigation involving the two people arrested on April 14, 2020.
Arrested were Lucas Jay Madison of St. Paul and Katherine Byrd Campbell of Rochester. No ages were given in a news release issued by task force Commander Sergeant Paul LaRoche.
LaRoche says in the news release about the investigation involving the two individuals:
"That investigation revealed that Madison was making frequent trips to Arizona and was believed to be transporting back large amounts of narcotics to Minnesota. On April 14, 2020 the investigation revealed that Madison and Campbell were currently traveling from Arizona returning to Minnesota. It was believed that they were transporting a large amount of methamphetamine. Agents were able to determine what vehicle Madison and Campbell were traveling in and used various investigative means to monitor their location traveling to Minnesota."
"Agents worked with various law enforcement partners to observe Madison and Campbell traveling to Minnesota. Agents coordinated a traffic stop of the vehicle on I-35 in Rice County. During the course of the traffic stop, Madison and Campbell were identified, questioned, and asked to exit the vehicle. A certified narcotics detection K9 was run around the vehicle. The K9 alerted to the passenger compartment of the vehicle for the presence of narcotics. A search of the vehicle followed, where agents discovered a large quantity of suspected methamphetamine inside the passenger compartment."
"A further detailed search of the vehicle was later conducted pursuant to a search warrant. Madison and Campbell were both arrested for the substantial quantity of narcotics in the vehicle. They were transported and held at the Rice County Jail pending arraignment."
"Agents later completed the detailed search of the vehicle. The amount of methamphetamine located in the vehicle totaled over 25 pounds with packaging. The methamphetamine seized has an approximate street value of nearly 1 million dollars at the gram level. Agents also located various travel documents, boarding passes, and car rental agreements. Agents seized over $17,000 dollars in US currency relating to this investigation."
Madison and Campbell are facing Controlled Substance Crimes in the 1st Degree with enhancements for aggravating factors and importing across state borders.
CRDVOTF Commander Paul LaRoche commented, "It is unfortunate that criminal activity like this occurs, even more so during these trying times in our society. This case, in particular, was a large scale investigation involving multiple law enforcement partners, I am proud of how well all worked together to intercept this large quantity of meth and prevent it from being distributed in our state."