St. Cloud Man Facing Nine Felonies After Pistol-Whipping, Drug Bust

(KNSI) – A 57-year-old St. Cloud man has been hit with a stack of felony charges after investigators say he pistol-whipped a man during a robbery, then was found hours later with guns and roughly four ounces of fentanyl.

Reginald Dwayne Lewis is being held at the Benton County Jail on $500,000 bail.

According to the criminal complaint, the case began to unfold around 5:00 a.m. Thursday, April 16th, when the Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force executed a search warrant at an apartment on East St. Germain Street in St. Cloud as part of a fentanyl distribution investigation. Officers had to force their way in because the door had been barricaded from the inside.

Once inside, investigators detained three people and found a substance consistent with fentanyl, along with a large quantity of fentanyl pills. One of the men inside, identified in court records only as Victim A, had blood coming from his left ear.

According to the complaint, Victim A told investigators that a man he knew as “Bugaloo,” later identified as Lewis, had walked into his room uninvited a few hours earlier while he was sleeping. Victim A said Lewis struck him in the side of the head with a pistol, pulled out a second handgun, and began racking rounds into the chambers of both weapons. Lewis allegedly went back to pistol-whipping the victim before stealing $300 and a quantity of fentanyl. A witness inside the apartment backed up that account and told officers the residents barricaded the door afterward so Lewis could not return.

Investigators learned Lewis had rented a room at the Americana Motel in St. Cloud through April 17th. A judge signed off on a second search warrant, and Lewis was arrested at the motel later that morning.

Parked nearby was a Chevrolet Cruze that officers say they had seen Lewis driving the day before. The trunk was open, and a lockbox was sitting in plain view. A drug-detection K9 alerted to the odor of narcotics coming from the car. Inside the lockbox, investigators say they found three firearms. The glove box held three separate baggies that field-tested positive as fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine.
According to the complaint, the fentanyl weighed about 4 ounces, the methamphetamine just under an ounce, and the cocaine just under half an ounce, all with packaging.

On Friday, Lewis was charged with nine felonies, including first-degree controlled substance crime, second-degree controlled substance crime, third-degree controlled substance crime, first-degree aggravated robbery, three counts of first-degree burglary, second-degree assault, and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Court records show Lewis was convicted of second-degree controlled substance crime in Stearns County in January of 2013, which is the basis for the firearm possession charge.

If convicted on the top count alone, Lewis faces up to 40 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. His next court date is April 28th.

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