Crime & Safety

Alleged Dealer Charged in SLP Gas Station Drug Bust

Police arrested Justin Anthony Lawlor after smelling marijuana in his car.

A Watertown, MN man and an Excelsior, MN woman are facing numerous charges after police say they found a large quantity of methamphetamines in their car.

Last Friday, a St. Louis Park Police cruiser stopped in at the Holiday gas station at the corner of Minnetonka Boulevard and Highway 100. According to a criminal complaint filed earlier this week by Hennepin County prosecutors, they smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from the passengers of another car parked nearby. The driver told police she believed there was heroin in the car.

Police searched the car, prosecutors say, finding 28.1 grams of methamphetamine and 8.2 grams of heroin. The average methamphetamine dose varies, but can be as small as 10 milligrams. 

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While police searched the car, two passengers had been in the convenience store. According to the criminal complaint, Justin Anthonly Lawlor and Tricia Ann Prinsen had fled out the store's back door once they realized the car was being searched. Police quickly tracked down the pair, but Lawlor—hiding in a nearby backyard—had passed out and was taken to Methodist Hospital.

At the scene, police later found what the criminal complaint claims was Prinsen's purse, containing her ID and several vials of Naloxone, a controlled substance. Under police questioning, Prinsen claimed that Lawlor was a drug dealer, and both Prinsen and the car's driver said the bag containing the heroin and methamphetamines was Lawlor's.

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Lawlor faces one count of Felony First-Degree Possession of a Controlled Substance, one count of Felony Second-Degree Possession, and one count of Felony Fifth-Degree Possession. The first charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, while the second charge carries a maximum 25-year sentence and $500,000 fine, and the third brings at most five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Prinsen is also charged with Felony Fifth-Degree Possession of a Controlled Substance.


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