CLOQUET, Minn.
It wasn't the amount of cocaine that Derek Chester Cherrington allegedly bought that makes his Cloquet arrest out of the ordinary. It's how the police say he hid it.
Cherrington, of Kerrick, Minn., was arraigned this week in Carlton County Court for felony second-degree drug possession, charged with the possession of about 8 grams of cocaine.
When Cherrington was stopped by Cloquet police the afternoon of July 23, however, the location of the cocaine wasn't immediately apparent.
According to the criminal complaint, police knew in advance that Cherrington was going to purchase drugs in the parking lot of the Super 8 Motel on Big Lake Road in Cloquet.
ADVERTISEMENT
Cloquet Police Chief Wade Lamirande observed Cherrington's vehicle arrive in the motel parking lot. A man on a red four-wheeler approached Cherrington's 2003 Kia Rio sedan and then entered through the passenger door for a short time.
Police stopped Cherrington after he left the parking lot, southbound on Highway 33.
The complaint states that Lamirande located a plastic baggie with a small amount of marijuana together with a marijuana pipe in the front passenger seat.
When Cherrington was asked about any additional controlled substances and informed that it would mean a second felony if more drugs were discovered, the complaint says he admitted he had purchased a large amount of cocaine from the man on the four-wheeler.
However, according to the complaint, Cherrington said that while police were pulling him over he had inserted the cocaine in his rectum. Cherrington was taken to the Law Enforcement Center where he removed the drugs, which police said tested positive for cocaine and had a field weight of close to 8 grams.
On Monday, bond was set at $40,000. Cherrington made bail of $4,000.
The Pine Journal, Cloquet, and the Herald are Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
