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WABASHA — A Lake City man is facing felony charges after law enforcement reportedly found nearly 5 pounds of methamphetamine inside his vehicle after it was towed from a county road several days before.
Michael Jerald Mattison, 46, was arrested Tuesday, May 17, 2022, when he went to the Wabasha County Criminal Justice Center seeking the return of his vehicle from the county’s impound lot.
Mattison is charged in Wabasha County District Court with felony first-degree aggravated controlled substance crime and first-degree controlled substance crime. He made his first appearance in court on the charges Thursday where Judge Christopher Neisen set conditional bail at $200,000 and unconditional bail at $400,000. Mattison’s next court appearance is scheduled for June 7.
The 4.96 pounds of suspected meth was found in Mattison’s vehicle after a confidential reliable informant told a detective with the Southeast Minnesota Violent Crime Enforcement Team that Mattison had been involved in a single vehicle crash while towing another vehicle and that they heard his vehicle contained a large amount of meth, the criminal complaint states.
In the days after the crash, Mattison told a Wabasha County Sheriff’s deputy that he had swerved to avoid a deer.
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After a drug sniffing dog alerted to the potential of drugs in the vehicle, a search was conducted and a large blue bag containing multiple smaller plastic bags were found along with paperwork bearing Mattison’s name.
When interviewed by law enforcement, Mattison reportedly admitted that the approximately 5 pounds of meth had been mailed to him from a contact he had in California and that he had paid approximately $2,500 per pound and was hoping to make about $500 per pound, according to the criminal complaint.
This is the second time in recent months that law enforcement in Wabasha County have found pounds of meth.
In March, Federico Hernandez-Mozqueda, 39, was charged with three counts of first-degree controlled substance crime after Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Police intercepted a package containing approximately 2.3 pounds of meth addressed to Hernandez-Mozqueda at his Plainview address, according to a news release from the Wabasha County Attorney’s Office.
He is currently being held on $100,000 conditional bail. A hearing is scheduled for June 24.
Wabasha County Sheriff’s deputies ultimately recovered more than 1.53 pounds of meth.
“These cases show that methamphetamine is still rampant here in Wabasha,” Wabasha Sheriff's Office Capt. Curt Struwe said in a news release. “The people of Wabasha should know that the Sheriff and the County Attorney are dedicated to keeping our citizens safe, and ensuring that those who bring these destructive substances into our county and into our homes are held accountable.”
