Judge approves deferred prosecution agreement on drug charges for Boyceville man
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A Dunn County judge has approved a deferred prosecution agreement for a Boyceville man charged with possession of cocaine with intent to deliver.
Robert J. Rieckenberg, age 43, appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court with his attorneys, T. Gregory Amann and Ryan Pacyga on December 14 before Judge James Peterson for a plea hearing.
Rieckenberg was charged with two felony counts of possession with intent to deliver THC (the active substance in marijuana) and possession with intent to deliver cocaine along with one misdemeanor count of possessing drug paraphernalia.
The deferred prosecution agreement includes the provision that Rieckenberg plead guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, plead no contest to possessing drug paraphernalia, and successfully completes a drug treatment program, along with dismissal of the count pertaining to possession marijuana with intent to deliver and a fine of $175.30 for a speeding ticket of 1 to 10 mph over the speed limit, said Andrea Nodolf, Dunn County district attorney.
If Rieckenberg successfully completes the deferred prosecution agreement, the felony count of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver would be reduced to a misdemeanor, Nodolf said.
The maximum potential penalty for possessing cocaine with intent to deliver is a fine of up to $50,000 and/or a prison sentence of up to 15 years, Judge Peterson said.
Rieckenberg pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to deliver, and the judge accepted the guilty plea.
The maximum possible penalty for misdemeanor possession of cocaine is a fine of up to $5,000 and/or up to one year in jail, Judge Peterson said.
The maximum penalty for possessing drug paraphernalia is a fine of up to $500 and/or 30 days in jail, he said.
Rieckenberg pleaded no contest to the charge of possessing drug paraphernalia. The judge accepted the plea of no contest and found Rieckenberg guilty.
The judge also ordered Rieckenberg to pay court costs of $243, a $200 DNA surcharge and to pay a fine of $175.30 for the traffic violation.
A review date for the deferred prosecution agreement is scheduled for May 27, 2022, at 8:30 a.m.
Speeding
According to the criminal complaint, a Dunn County deputy was westbound on state Highway 170 at around 8:20 a.m. Monday, February 10, when an eastbound vehicle appeared to be traveling above the posted speed limit.
The deputy activated his radar unit, which indicated the eastbound vehicle was traveling at 68 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone.
The deputy executed a U turn and then stopped the vehicle on Highway 170 just west of 180th Street in the Town of Tiffany.
The driver was identified by his Minnesota license as Robert Rieckenberg, and while the deputy was speaking to Rieckenberg, he detected the strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle, according to the complaint.
The deputy ran Rieckenberg’s information through Dunn County dispatch and then requested that an officer from the Boyceville Police Department respond to his location.
Marijuana
When the deputy asked Rieckenberg about the last time he had smoked marijuana, Rieckenberg said he had smoked marijuana in Minnesota the previous weekend and that he has a medicinal prescription for marijuana and uses it for pain.
During a probable cause search of Rieckenberg’s vehicle, the deputy located several e-cigarette cartridges that appeared to have THC oil in them; a small folding pipe with suspected marijuana; a pill container with suspected marijuana; a backpack with a grinder and fragments of suspected marijuana; two bundles of cash; a black duffle bag with a large quantity of marijuana in a side pocket and a Baggie with smaller Baggies in the duffle bag, along with a scale, according to the complaint.
The deputy also discovered an Ibuprofen container in the duffle bag with two packages of a white substance. One package tested positive for cocaine and the other package was inconclusive on the field test, the complaint states.
The center console contained a .22 caliber pistol with one round in the chamber.
Rieckenberg said he had a concealed carry permit for the pistol, according to the complaint.
Other field tests
The deputy placed Rieckenberg under arrest and transported him to the Dunn County jail where the deputy conducted other field tests.
The tests could not identify the 3.6 grams of white substance found with the 10.3 grams of white substance that tested positive for cocaine. The deputy believes the unidentified substance may have been intended as a “cut” for the cocaine. The large bag containing 30.6 grams of what was suspected to be marijuana tested positive for THC, according to the complaint.
