Former Rochester Woman Admits to First-Degree Drug Charge

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Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A former Rochester woman has worked out a plea agreement with Olmsted County prosecutors involving a significant drug trafficking investigation.

37-year-old Marina Garza, who now has a Minneapolis address, entered a guilty plea Friday to a first-degree drug possession charge. In exchange, a first-degree charge involving drug sales was dismissed.

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Garza's conviction stems from her arrest in May of last year in the company of 29-year-old José Aguilera, who is currently serving an 85-month prison sentence for a first-degree drug conviction. Court documents indicate Garza and Aguilera were in a vehicle that was stopped by a State Trooper on Highway 52 just north of Rochester, which led to the seizure of nearly a half pound of methamphetamine.

Olmsted County ADC photos

The criminal complaint says the traffic stop stemmed from an investigation into drug trafficking that began a couple of months earlier. It also says Aguilera had been under surveillance and investigators were able to document a series of suspected drug transactions during his visits to the Twin Cities.

Garza is scheduled to be sentenced in December. She was previously given a stayed 78-month prison sentence and was placed on probation for 10 years for an earlier first-degree drug conviction involving the sale of methamphetamine. Her sentencing in that case occurred several months after she and Aguilera were arrested in May 2022.