Two people face drug charges after methamphetamine was found during a traffic stop at a Moorhead gas station, the latest in a string of arrests tied to narcotics activity at a local motel.
Brianna Lee Bagnall, 32, faces two felony charges in Clay County: first-degree drug sale involving 17 or more grams of methamphetamine within a 90-day period and second-degree drug possession involving 25 or more grams of methamphetamine. Michael Vincent Ertelt, 41, faces the same two charges.
According to the criminal complaint, a Clay County deputy was contacted by a narcotics detective on March 20 about a white Buick Envision with Texas plates that had just left the Willow Inn and Suites in Moorhead. The detective said the driver, Ertelt, had active warrants for his arrest.
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The deputy located the vehicle at a Circle K gas station on 30th Avenue South. Ertelt identified himself and was detained. Two women were seen walking toward the vehicle but quickly changed direction after seeing Ertelt in handcuffs, the complaint says.
Ertelt told officers the women were "Brianna" and her daughter. He said he had missed a meeting with his North Dakota parole officer and identified the officer by name. The parole officer confirmed an active warrant for a parole violation and told the deputy he'd received information that Ertelt was moving large quantities of narcotics in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
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The vehicle was a rental and Ertelt consented to a search for the rental paperwork. While looking inside, the deputy spotted a can in the center console with the corner of a plastic bag and a crystalline substance sticking out. Inside the can were two Ziploc bags, one weighing 10 grams and the other 26 grams, both testing positive for methamphetamine.
A State Trooper tracked down Bagnall and her minor daughter in a Doyle's Cab nearby. They were brought back to the Circle K, where Bagnall confirmed she had been riding in the front passenger seat. The deputy deployed his K-9 partner, Kash, who alerted to narcotics in the vehicle. A search of Bagnall's bag turned up narcotics residue and a baggie containing one gram of methamphetamine, court records show.
Ertelt told officers that Bagnall had large amounts of bags inside the vehicle and that no one else had been inside it that day besides him, Bagnall and her daughter. He said he believed Bagnall was a narcotics user, according to the complaint.
The arrests are connected to a broader investigation at the Willow Inn and Suites, where police had executed a separate narcotics search warrant just three days earlier.
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