Brown County

District Court

• Eric Martinez, 22, 307 S.E. 1st Street, Fairfax, was charged with gross misdemeanor fifth-degree drug possession-not small amount of marijuana and misdemeanor driving without Ignition Interlock Jan. 4.

According to court documents, New Ulm Police were called by a Drug Task Force Agent who said they thought they just witnessed a drug transaction in the Cash Wise Foods parking lot at 11:10 p.m. Jan. 2. The agent said they were following one of the suspect vehicles that didn’t have any front or rear license plates or a temporary registration sticker in the rear window.

Police stopped the suspect vehicle and identified the driver as Martinez. The name on the insurance did not match Martinez. A passenger, Dane A. Burton, provided a South Dakota driver’s license said he was the owner.

The men denied having just been at Cash Wise. After running information through dispatch, police learned that Martinez had an Ignition Interlock license restriction. He would not provide any more information about what happened at Cash Wise.

Police told Martinez that Burton was being arrested for a warrant and the vehicle would be searched. Martinez said nothing in the vehicle was his. He allowed police to pat search him and they found a red, plastic tube with a white residue inside. Martinez said the residue was Vicodin from about three days ago.

Police and two Task Force agents searched the vehicle and found a small pipe that screwed into a bolt and smelled of burnt marijuana. An agent found a “one hitter” pipe that smelled of burnt marijuana and had residue and a small, white box that contained six marijuana buds.

Martinez was arrested and searched. A plastic container in his pocket was found that he said contained Vicodin.

When Burton learned he would be charged with a fifth-degree controlled substance charge, he said Martinez picked him up in Winthrop and they drove to McDonald’s in New Ulm, then to Cash Wise and bought marijuana from a woman they were in contact with. Burton said he didn’t know her name.

Police tested the white substance in several items that tested positive for opiates. A green, leafy substance believed to be marijuana weighed about 1.9 grams.