The Minnesota State Patrol recently intercepted a sizable shipment of illegal drugs in the Owatonna area.The charges filed against two California men indicate the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension learned of the shipment and alerted the State Patrol to be on the lookout for two vehicles traveling on I-35 Monday afternoon. A trooper located both vehicles near Ellendale and pulled one of the drivers over for a license plate violation, which prompted the driver of the second vehicle to also stop along the freeway.

A search of the first vehicle led to the seizure of around 25 pounds of methamphetamine and 13 pounds of heroin. While there were no drugs in the second vehicle, the criminal complaint says investigators found a note pad that appears to have been used to document and track drug sales, along with some cell phones and identification cards. Court documents indicate one of the IDs is from a man named in a federal drug trafficking indictment last week in connection with a drug bust in Bloomington last month that led to the seizure of 10 pounds of meth.

The two men arrested by the State Patrol on Monday, 29-year-old Samuel Gomez-Roman and 28-year-old Jesse Cuen, were arraigned yesterday in Steele County Court. Conditional bail for Guzman-Roman was set at $250,000 dollars and $200,000 for Cuen.

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