Boyceville woman arrested 4th time on meth charges
By LeAnn R. Ralph
BOYCEVILLE — A 44-year-old Boyceville woman is facing additional charges for possessing and selling methamphetamine.
Brenda (Behrens) Herdahl, along with her attorney Christopher Bub, appeared May 30 in Dunn County Circuit Court before Judge Rod Smeltzer on a fourth case of felony delivery of methamphetamine second and subsequent offense and felony bail jumping.
Herdahl initially was charged with felony possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine and two misdemeanor counts of possessing drug paraphernalia connected with incidents that occurred in the village of Boyceville April 12.
In the next case, Herdahl is charged with felony possession of methamphetamine second and subsequent offense, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, and felony bail jumping connected with incidents in the Town of Stanton on May 3.
In the third case, Herdahl is charged with felony possession of methamphetamine second and subsequent offense and two counts of felony bail jumping in connection with incidents that occurred in the Town of Hay River May 21.
In the fourth case, Herdahl is charged in connection with a controlled buy of methamphetamine by a confidential informant that occurred in Boyceville April 17.
In the first case, Herdahl posted a $5,000 cash bail April 13. In the second case, Herdahl posted a $1,500 cash bail May 4.
In the third case, a $500 cash bail was set May 22, and in the fourth case, another cash bail of $500 was set May 25.
Bub, Herdahl’s attorney, pointed out to the court that although Herdahl has a prior record, she has had no convictions in the past 16 years. Bub also noted that while Herdahl has been on probation in the past, she followed the rules and regulations, and her probation was not revoked.
Since Herdahl has job opportunities now and has no cash to pay for additional cash bail, Bub argued that Judge Smeltzer should set a signature bond.
Over the last few months, alleged problematic circumstances have brought Herdahl into court, Judge Smeltzer said.
Under the circumstances, the judge said he would not modify the bail to a cash bond.
Herdahl requested speedy preliminary hearings, which were scheduled for June 2 and June 5.
Possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver is a Class C felony that carries a penalty of up to 40 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $100,000.
Possession of drug paraphernalia is a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to 30 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $500.
Possession of methamphetamine second and subsequent offense is a Class I felony that carries a penalty of up to three years and six months of confinement and a fine of up to $10,000.
Because Herdahl was convicted of possession of methamphetamine in 2002 in Dunn County, the maximum term of imprisonment may be increased by up to four years.
Felony bail jumping is a Class H felony that carries a penalty of up to six years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000.
As of June 4, Herdahl remained in custody at the Dunn County jail. She was booked into the jail May 21.
Criminal complaints
According to the criminal complaint in the first case, the Boyceville Police Department had been conducting surveillance on 918 Center Street for approximately one month based on information from a number of sources that methamphetamine was being sold at that address by Brenda Herdahl.
Officers from the Boyceville Police Department had observed a Ford Fusion with no license plates parked at the Center Street address many times over the previous month. Sometimes the car stayed for a short while, and at other times, the car remained for hours.
On April 11, a BPD officer saw three people get into the car, and eventually the car turned onto state Highway 170. The officer decided to pull the car over for two reasons: it had no license plates, and it had made numerous visits to an address from which the officer suspected methamphetamine was being sold, according to the complaint.
The officer pulled over the car and identified the occupants as Kevin Allen Walton, age 26; David J. Anderson, age 26; and Paige Marie Reaney, age 22.
Online court records list Walton’s address as Rice Lake. Reaney has a Boyceville address.
After asking the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department to respond to the location, officers found a black nylon bag in the engine compartment of the car that contained a pink glass pipe, of the type used to smoke illegal narcotics, a clear plastic bag containing a white powdery substance with clear shards suspected to be methamphetamine, a torch and a digital scale.
Walton told deputies that Brenda Herdahl was expected to arrive at her home on Center Street driving a white Monte Carlo. Herdahl was reported to be returning from Minneapolis with six ounces of methamphetamine, according to the complaint.
A deputy recovered a quantity of methamphetamine from Herdahl, and later on, both packages field tested positive for methamphetamine. Narcotics also were recovered and were shipped to a lab, according to the complaint.
Drug task force
At one point, Walton told deputies he was working with the “Drug Task Force Unit” and had gone to the Herdahl residence to see if they had methamphetamine to sell. Deputies told Walton a controlled buy is typically conducted under the direction of an investigator. Walton said he was aware of that but he was making sure Herdahl had methamphetamine to sell before he contacted the drug task force, according to the complaint.
The complaint also states, “On 4/12/17, Chief Lamkin logged into the surveillance camera officers had placed in the 900 block of Center Street by the Department of Criminal Investigation. Chief Lamkin reviewed the (archived) video files 4/11/2017. At approximately 1834 hours, Chief Lamkin observed Kevin, Paige and David exit 918 Center. Kevin walked to the driver’s door, opened it and appeared to reach down to unlock the hood. Chief Lamkin observed Kevin walk to the hood and open it while Paige stood next to him. Chief Lamkin could see a black object in his hand that he then placed into the engine compartment. Kevin then closed the hood and got into the driver’s seat while Paige got into the back passenger seat. David walked around the rear of the vehicle while they were at the front and got into the front passenger seat.”
Psycho Suzie
Herdahl told deputies she traveled to Minneapolis to “Psycho Suzie’s” on Marshall Street to buy methamphetamine but the location had changed, and she went to 29th and Grant to buy meth from a Hispanic woman from whom she has purchased meth twice in the past, according to the complaint.
Herdahl said she usually buys the methamphetamine from a man named Scott.
According to the complaint, for the last four months, Herdahl has been buying methamphetamine, consuming small amounts since she has an addiction, and has been selling the rest to help her pay for her habit. Herdahl typically charges $70 per gram for the methamphetamine, although sales have gone down because of recent police activity in the area.
All together, 84 grams of methamphetamine was recovered from Herdahl, according to the complaint.
Brenda and Chris Herdahl had been clean from methamphetamine for about 16 years until last fall. By December, Brenda Herdahl had started selling methamphetamine to support her drug addiction. Two ounces of methamphetamine would last approximately two weeks taking into consideration Brenda’s use and Chris’s use and the sale of the drug, according to the complaint.
Stanton
In the second criminal complaint, a Dunn County deputy on May 3 noticed a vehicle on county Highway K with expired registration driving in a suspicious manner. The car quickly pulled into a driveway at an angle, as if the driver were going to leave, and then quickly pulled back into the driveway.
The driver of the car was Brenda Behrens (Herdahl), who told the deputy the car was overheating, although there was no indication of overheating. Herdahl and her passenger gave conflicting reports on where they were coming from.
The conflicting stories and suspicious driving behavior prompted the deputy to request another deputy and his K-9 partner to respond to the scene.
The dog alerted on the window, and a glass pipe was found in the driver’s side door. In a purse on the seat, deputies found a plastic bag with a white crystal substance that field tested positive for methamphetamine. Another plastic bag with a crystal substance and glass pipe was found on Herdahl’s person, according to the complaint.
Hay River
In the third criminal complaint, a Dunn County deputy was dispatched to the gas station in Wheeler on May 21 to respond to reports of suspicious activity.
The deputy observed a white Monte Carlo and a Ford Fusion parked driver door to driver door in the Wheeler Inn parking lot. After approximately an hour, the two vehicles were still in the parking lot, so the deputy went to the vehicles to make sure the occupants were all right after sitting there for an hour, according to the complaint.
The driver of the Monte Carlo was identified as Herdahl, and the driver of the Fusion was identified as Walton. Herdahl consented to a search of her vehicle, and Ziploc bag with a crystal-like substance was discovered in a purse on the seat of vehicle. The substance tested positive for meth, according to the complaint.
Controlled buy
In the fourth complaint, a confidential informant made a controlled buy from Herdahl on April 17. Through the body wire, investigators heard Herdahl selling methamphetamine to the confidential informant.
The CI turned over a clear plastic Ziploc gem pack that investigators identified as methamphetamine. The CI wrote in a statement that he/she had bought a quarter gram of meth from Herdahl. The substance purchased by the CI field tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the complaint.
Other charges
Walton is charged in Dunn County with one felony count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, greater than three grams but less than ten grams.
He is scheduled for another court hearing June 9.
Reaney is charged in Dunn County with one felony count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, greater than three grams but less than ten grams, and one misdemeanor count of bail jumping.
She is scheduled to be arraigned in Dunn County Circuit Court June 9.
