Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force Takes Down Dozens of Suspected Selling Fentanyl

(KNSI) – The Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force is celebrating a two-and-a-half-year-long investigation they say is helping take a deadly drug off the streets.

The task force began targeting fentanyl dealers in the central Minnesota area due to the alarming rise in overdoses. Police say 52 people have died from fentanyl use in St. Cloud during that time.

Over the summer, investigators arrested three men for allegedly selling large amounts of pressed pills and powdered fentanyl out of a house on the 1400 block of Breckenridge Avenue North in St. Cloud. Police say they made multiple controlled buys starting in late 2023. The task force also learned who the suppliers of the Breckenridge Avenue group were, and they have been arrested and charged.

Over that same time, local police have charged 61 people with fentanyl-related crimes, executed 14 search warrants, and recovered 16,000 pressed pills, over 160 grams of powder, nine guns and over $38,000 from drug sales.

___