9 Years in Prison For Meth Shipment Intercepted Near Albert Lea
Albert Lea, MN (KROC-AM News) - The discovery of nearly a pound of methamphetamine hidden in the trunk of a car during a traffic stop near Albert Lea last year has sent a Twin Cities man to prison for more than nine years.
44-year-old Jeremy Clarin of South St. Paul earlier entered a guilty plea to a first-degree drug possession charge. He was arrested last March after he was pulled over by a State Trooper in the town of Clarks Grove and a search of his vehicle led to the seizure of more than 436 grams of meth after the drugs were found stashed under some carpet in the rear wheel well.
According to the criminal complaint, Clarin was on supervised release after serving an 8-year prison sentence for a second-degree drug conviction in Dakota County when the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension learned that he was traveling to California to obtain a large amount of methamphetamine and bringing it back to the southern Minnesota area. Using GPS tracking data from his cell phone, investigators determined Clarin and gone to San Bernardino and was headed back to Minnesota.
Investigators began following Clarin's vehicle once he reached Des Moines Iowa and the decision was made to initiate a traffic stop after he exited I-35 in Clarks Grove on the morning of March 28th. The meth was found after a K9 officer trained for drug detection alerted on the vehicle.
