The nationwide heroin epidemic seems not to have an effect on Meeker County, according to the Cooperative Enforcement Effort IV Drug and Gang Task Force’s summary statistics report for 2018. The CEE-VI Drug and Gang Task Force currently consists of Meeker, Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Swift and Yellow Medicine counties.
Preliminary statistics from the Minnesota Department of Health suggest that in Minnesota, about 733 people died from drug overdose in 2017 with 422 of those deaths opioid-related. About 195 of those deaths occurred from prescription opioid abuse, 184 from synthetic opioids and 111 from heroin. In Meeker County there were 13 opioid-related deaths from 2000-2016, two of which involved heroin, according to MDH data.
Although much of the seven-metro area counties are seeing increased heroin-related overdoses, another drug reigns supreme in Meeker County.
“Meth is still king in Meeker,” said Meeker County Sheriff Brian Cruze. “We are just kind of this island — we aren’t really seeing it.”
The task force made seven undercover purchases in Meeker County during 2018 for more than 243.30 grams of methamphetamine, amounting to nearly $7,000. The task force also conducted 10 raids and netted about 1,187 grams of meth (about 2.61 pounds). This is almost double for the amount seized in 2017 in the county.
For the five-county cooperative, the task force seized nearly 3,750 grams of meth. In contrast for the entire five-county area, about 6.36 grams of heroin were seized — 5.2 grams were purchased in Meeker County.
Cruze, who worked with the sheriff’s office narcotics division in the early 2000s, said there is still a large quantity of meth in Meeker County.
“While not as big of an increase, methamphetamine seizures also increased in 2018,” Cruze said. “We do not see the heroin problem in Meeker County like other parts of the state but we do still see major issues with methamphetamine, and the many related crimes that come with drug use and abuse.”
Cruze also said there was a sharp increase in cocaine and marijuana seizures in 2018 compared to 2017. The county seized more than 517 grams of cocaine in 2018 and only 11.51 grams in 2017. Cruze said the sheriff’s office has seized more marijuana and different types of marijuana, such as a candiboid oil wax. The report shows that Meeker County alone seized more than 52 pounds of marijuana in 2018 and about 802 grams of marijuana wax.
Meeker County Sheriff Brian Cruze said that the task force made 60 drug-related arrests in Meeker County with two being gang-related. Out of the 60 arrests in Meeker County, 31 took place in Litchfield. The county seized more than $13,480 in cash, two vehicles, three hand guns and six long guns during drug seizures in 2018.
“We have a very active investigative unit in the five-county task force,” Cruze said. “There were 370 drug arrests in the entire five-county area and we seized about 53,000 grams of marijuana.”
Some of the task force’s work came to light last summer. The task force arrested Litchfield resident Michelle Margaret Patzold, 33, for fifth-degree possession of methamphetamines and prohibited possession of a firearm July 16. The taskforce searched Patzold’s apartment, finding drug paraphernalia, meth and a firearm.
Meeker County Sheriff’s Department in conjunction with the CEE-VI Drug Task Force arrested Litchfield resident Douglas Neu, 48, after carrying out a search warrant Aug. 20. Law enforcement searched Neu’s house and vehicle, finding 2.5 pounds of meth, 5 grams of heroin and $4,500 in cash.
According to Ross Ardoff, commander of the CEE-VI Drug Task Force, the approximate street value of the seized drugs was $22,000 of meth and $1,000 of heroin.
