Arrest Warrant Issued For Rochester Drug Trafficking Suspect

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Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - An arrest warrant has been issued for a New Mexico man who was released from custody without bail shortly after he was arrested in connection with a significant Rochester drug bust in 2022.

A warrant was issued Tuesday for 57-year-old Jeffrey Charles Podolske after the former Rochester man failed to show up in court for a required evidentiary hearing last Friday. He is charged with first-degree drug sales and second-degree drug possession. The criminal complaint in the case also indicates he was wanted on an active nationwide extraditable warrant from New Mexico at the time of his arrest.

The charges state Podolske was taken into custody on the warrant after he was pulled over by a police officer who had spotted him driving a motorcycle without license plates in southeast Rochester on the morning of October 3, 2022. The court document says the officer observed Podolske remove a leather vest and place it in the saddlebag on the motorcycle.

While he was being searched following his arrest, the complaint says $1600 in cash was found on his person. A later search of the motorcycle led to the discovery of 685 suspected counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl in the leather vest along with another $1000 in cash.

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