After months of investigation by Cannon river drug task force agents, two people are charged with 1st degree drug sale. Agents identified 33 year old Antonio Levell Washington as the main source of heroin into Rice County. An undercover agent arranged a buy of 10 grams of heroin for $1500 at the Flying J Truck stop on November 21st. A 2nd buy was set up for Wednesday for 12 grams at $1800. The agent got into an SUV with Washington and a driver identified as 32 year old Karen Joy Selden of Eagan. After the deal, Washington went to look at a tv in the agent’s car and Selden went inside the store. Agents then swooped in and arrested them. Inside the SUV was another 2 grams of heroin. Selden had a large sum of cash in her purse,
$660 of it was government marked money. Agents had been watching Selden’s home where they believed Washington was also living. They searched the home and found 2 loaded firearms, one on each side of the bed. They also found several more grams of heroin at the residence. They’re both charged however, Selden, is charged with only the 12 gram buy. Both suspects are looking at up to 30 years in prison. Their initial court appearances are December 14th. Both remain in the Rice County jail. No photo of Selden was available.Selden Complaint Washington Complaint
Additionally, Washington has been charged with 5 felony counts of of domestic abuse. The victim reported that Washington used burner phones to hide his identity. She’s afraid of him. The woman has 3 minor daughters. Washington has multiple previous convictions for domestic assault.
COMPLAINT 2954 COMPLAINT 2950 COMPLAINT 2951 COMPLAINT 2952 COMPLAINT 2953
Sheriff asks for patience while they investigate Deputy tweet
A Rice County Deputy is under fire after tweeting out his opinion on the $800,000 settlement Diamond Reynolds will receive related to her boyfriend, Philando Castile’s, death by a St. Anthony police officer. City Pages reports that Sgt. Tom McBroom, also an Elysian councilman, inferred in his tweet that Reynolds will spend the money on crack cocaine. From that point, there were responses that, overwhelmingly, called McBroom a racist, while a few stood by him. City Pages contacted McBroom through Facebook, who at first denied he was in law enforcement. He then backtracked and told the paper that he meant the temptation for people like Reynolds is to spend that money rather than save it. Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn found out about the tweet on Wednesday through media. He said they’re following protocol in an investigation adding, “I just ask the public for patience while we go through this process and, again, just want to reiterate this is not the opinion or the beliefs of our Sheriff’s office staff and we honor and respect people and treat them with respect and I’m disappointed that this happened but we will get through this, we have a great agency here and we just ask for the public’s patience and support while we do it”. McBroom is not scheduled to work but Dunn would not confirm if that’s due to the tweet. In the meantime, the Rice County Sheriff’s facebook page was taken offline after numerous posts commenting and calling for McBroom’s dismissal got ugly.
E. Cannon Riv. trail opens
The East Cannon River Trail, a cooperative trail project between Cities of Northfield and Dundas is officially open for public use. The trail project is a 9500 ft extension of the existing trail on the east side of the Cannon River from Bollenbacher Court in Northfield to Everett Street in Dundas. The trail corridor route winds along the Cannon River between Northfield and Dundas with observation areas along the corridor emphasizing the various wooded and wetland areas. An official ribbon cutting ceremony for the East Cannon River Trail project will be scheduled for the Spring of 2018.
