A Rochester man charged with multiple drug and assault charges pleaded guilty Thursday in Mower County District Court to a single count of felony fifth-degree drug possession.
Eight other charges were dismissed as the result of a plea agreement.
Melvin Tyrone Bush, 48, had been charged in July with five felony drug charges and four misdemeanor domestic assault charges.
According to the criminal complaint filed against him, officers responded to 504 Sixth Ave. S.E. in the early morning of the Fourth of July for a report of a domestic assault.
When officers arrived, Bush allegedly approached them and said his kids were trying to set him up.
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An officer went inside the home, where a 14-year-old girl told him Bush had struck an 11-year-old boy with a closed fist because the boy was sleeping on the couch. The girl told the officer Bush struck the boy a second time upstairs, this time in the chest.
According to the complaint, the 14-year-old said Bush also grabbed the wrist of a 12-year-old girl in the home, and he wasn't supposed to touch her because she is pregnant. When the 14-year-old intervened, Bush reportedly then grabbed at an 8-year-old.
The 14-year-old then called her mother, who came home.
Officers discovered Bush had an active warrant out of Rochester; when questioned outside, Bush allegedly attempted to conceal something from the police. Upon a search prior to his arrest, officers found a clear plastic bag and a tin foil bindle with a white powder; both later tested positive for crack cocaine.
The mother gave officers permission to search the home for drugs with a K-9 officer.
According to the complaint, the dog alerted to a dresser in an upstairs bedroom, which the woman said belonged to Bush.
Inside a travel bag that allegedly belonged to Bush, officers found multiple bags of a white power, a clear plastic bag with a brown powder, more tin foil bindles and a scale.
Authorities seized $197 in cash; 0.2 gram of heroin and 3.6 grams of crack cocaine.
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In addition to the domestic assault charges, Bush was originally charged with second-degree drug sale, 3 grams or more; third-degree drug sale; third-degree drug possession, 3 grams or more; and two counts of fifth-degree drug possession, all felonies.
He remains in the Mower County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail. He's scheduled to be sentenced in December. The fifth-degree drug charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a $20,000 fine, or both.
