Guilty Plea for California Man Charged in Major Rochester-Area Cocaine Bust

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- The Olmsted County Attorney’s Office has reached a plea deal with one of the two California residents charged in a major drug bust that occurred in the Rochester area earlier this year. 

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The charges say a Minnesota State trooper was stationed on I-90 in Olmsted County when he stopped a vehicle without a front license plate during the early morning hours of January 31. Authorities were granted permission to search the vehicle and later found over eight pounds of a substance that tested positive for cocaine.

45-year-old Jorge Arreola and 35-year-old Noemi Cervantes were then arrested and each charged with felony first-degree drug sales, felony first-degree drug possession and a felony charge for importing drugs across state lines. 

Olmsted County Court records indicate Arreola agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors earlier this week that calls for him to admit to the felony first-degree drug sales charge. In exchange the prosecution will drop the other felony counts. 

See Also: Rochester Traffic Stop Leads to Large Drug Bust

The agreement recommends the mandatory minimum 65-month prison sentence. The agreement is contingent on the state receiving assurance that the federal government will not indicite Arreola on the charges within the case. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on May 10. 

Court records indicate the case against Cervantes remains ongoing.