Rochester Drug Bust Leads to 7 1/2 Year Prison Sentence

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Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Winona man has been sentenced to over 7 1/2 years in prison for a significant drug bust in Rochester last year.

26-year-old Antonio Lamar Johnson Jr, who is already serving a prison sentence for a domestic assault conviction, entered into a plea agreement this past summer and admitted to a second-degree drug possession charge. Olmsted County prosecutors agreed to drop a second-degree drug sale charge, a fifth-degree drug possession charge, and another felony charge of violating a no-contact order.

His convictions stem from an investigation conducted by the Southeast Minnesota Violent Crime Enforcement Team, which resulted in the execution of a search warrant at a southeast Rochester home and a vehicle in May of last year. Johnson was driving the vehicle at the time and was alone in it when he was pulled over and officers spotted him "stomping" two bindles of suspected cocaine into the floorboard.

The vehicle was then towed to the Rochester Law Enforcement Center for a thorough search, which led to the discovery of just over a gram of cocaine, nearly 74 grams of marijuana, and 300 suspected counterfeit Percocet pills likely containing fentanyl. The search also resulted in the seizure of about $7300 cash, 3 cell phones, and items associated with drug sales.

The court documents say a woman was at the residence when the search warrant was executed. She stated she was the owner of the car that Johnson was driving and she was trying to get it back from him. The complaint says the woman later called an investigator and stated there was $9000 in the vehicle and claimed it belonged to her. It also indicated a phone call from Johnson to the woman from jail was recorded, including a conversation during which Johnson appears to be instructing her to tell investigators that she had left her purse in the car.