Drug investigation leads to two arrests

LITTLE FALLS - A monthlong investigation into the unlawful sale of prescription drugs in the Little Falls area was wrapped up Monday with the arrest of two people, the Morrison County Sheriff's Department reported.

Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel said in a news release that a Little Falls police officer received information that John Albert Heffelfinger, 66, of St. Leo, and Alicia Marie Cross, 30, both of St. Leo and formerly of Randall, were selling prescription Percocet pills and Fentanyl patches in the Little Falls area.

On Sunday, Little Falls police officers, Morrison County sheriff's deputies and Central Minnesota Drug and Gang Task Force agents observed Heffelfinger and Cross filling a prescription and then selling the drugs in Little Falls.

Both Heffelfinger and Cross were arrested Monday and are being held in the Morrison County jail on probable cause for second-degree controlled substance crimes. Formal charges are pending with the Morrison County attorney's office and other charges are possible against other individuals, the sheriff's department said.

In the news release, Wetzel said the illegal sale of prescription drugs has increased over the past five years, as enforcement efforts have made other illegal drugs harder to get.

"Prescription drugs are easy to get by simply lying to a doctor about pain," Wetzel said. "The drugs are then abused or sold to others on the street for up to $20 per pill."

The unlawful sale of prescription drugs is every bit as illegal as the sale of cocaine or meth, Wetzel said, and he believes there are now more people addicted to, or abusing, prescription medications than other illegal street drugs.