A Crookston man was sentenced to serve five years in prison last week for his role in a group that trafficked cocaine in the region in 2014.
Daniel Morales, 23, pleaded guilty to five felony counts related to the sale of a controlled substance in September. He was sentenced Dec. 13 to serve 60 months in the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud, with credit for 240 days served in Northwest Regional Correctional Center.
Morales was the initial person of interest in a drug trafficking investigation by the Pine to Prairie Narcotics Task Force that began in May 2014 when a confidential informant who was buying prescription pills and marijuana from Morales was told a cocaine supplier would be coming through town.
Also charged in the case are Juan Andres Gonzalez, 25, of Oslo, Minn., who faces three felony counts related to drug trafficking and a gross misdemeanor charge for carrying a pistol without a permit; Jerardo Gonzalez, 22, of Grand Forks, who is charged with five felonies related to controlled substance trafficking; and Salomon Leandro Gutierrez, 22, who is charged with three controlled substance trafficking charges.
Juan Andres Gonzalez and his brother Jerardo Gonzalez have omnibus hearings scheduled for Jan. 10. Gutierrez has a pretrial conference scheduled the same day.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to a criminal complaint, on May 27, 2014, a Crookston Police officer said he heard Morales through an electronic transmitter an informant was wearing say he could get up to half a gram of cocaine and that he was going to Colorado to pick up 5 pounds of marijuana.
In early June 2014, the confidential informant purchased more pills and marijuana from Morales, who said "he was going to start selling cocaine; and he was going to keep selling until he got caught," the court documents stated.
The informant met with Morales again on July 1, 2014, in Crookston to purchase $1,200 in cocaine, according to court documents. An electronic transmitter recorded Morales saying his supplier had anything the informant wanted. The supplier rented a farm near Climax, Minn., because the drugs were "too hot" in Grand Forks.
Morales was arrested that day by East Grand Forks Police at a Crookston M&H gas station. He told officers he purchased 7 grams of cocaine from Gutierrez. Morales eventually agreed to cooperate with law enforcement by purchasing cocaine from Gutierrez and Andrew Daniel Alderete.
Morales was able to buy $1,350 worth of cocaine, or about 13 grams, from Gutierrez and Alderete, according to court documents. Gutierrez was arrested July 2, 2014, and police said they found $790 that matched "buy money" officers gave to Morales for the drug deal.
In interviews, Gutierrez, who agreed to cooperate with law enforcement, admitted to selling the cocaine to Morales, adding they had sold drugs out of Alderete's residence in Eldred, Minn., and his supplier was Jerardo Gonzalez, according to court documents.
Gutierrez met with Jerardo Gonzalez July 7, 2014, in Fisher, Minn., where Gutierrez said he purchased $1,250, or about 14 grams, of cocaine from Jerardo Gonzalez, according to court documents. Police followed Jerardo Gonzalez to East Grand Forks, where he was arrested.
He told investigators he sold cocaine to Gutierrez, according to court documents. Jerardo Gonzalez added he got the drugs from his brother, Juan Gonzalez, who was identified by drug task force agents as the main distributor, according to a news release.
Juan Gonzalez was arrested shortly after with a Glock 9 mm pistol in his vehicle’s center console and the “buy money" that had been used to purchase cocaine over that July 2014 week, according to the release. He also said he sold cocaine, according to court documents.
It's unclear from the criminal complaint dated Aug. 4 if Alderete was arrested in connection to the cocaine deal. Court documents indicate he moved to Texas before an officer spoke with him July 9, 2014.
Charging documents also stated other known and unknown persons were involved in the drug deals, though it's unclear to what extent.
Pine to Prairie Drug Task Force representatives declined to comment on the case.
