SLEEPY EYE — A 30-year-old Sleepy Eye man faces five felony drug sale charges after he was stopped by Sleepy Eye Police Sunday night.

Charges filed in Brown County District Court Tuesday against Anthony M. Kolbe, 518 2nd Ave. S.W., include one count of felony third-degree drug sale to a person under age 18 and four counts of felony fifth-degree sale of a marijuana mixture.

According to court documents, Sleepy Eye Police were on patrol Sunday, Aug. 18, when they noticed a vehicle stopped in an alley just south of the Dyckman Free Library, 345 Main St. W. As police turned into an alley, they noticed a young female standing at the driver’s side door of a small black sedan stopped in the alley. The sedan driver then drove towards 3rd Avenue South West and turned onto it.

Police stopped the vehicle and identified the driver as Anthony M. Kolbe. He told police he stopped in the alley because he knew the girl through another friend. Kolbe told police he hadn’t consumed any alcohol or drugs but police smelled a strong marijuana odor in the vehicle.

An officer asked him where the marijuana was located, and Kolbe took a green leafy substance from his pocket. Kolbe said he was going to give the substance to the girl, not sell it to her.

Police asked Kolbe to exit the vehicle and empty his pockets onto a squad car hood. Kolbe placed an unusually large amount of currency onto the hood, plus a cell phone and wallet. Police searched Kolbe and found more marijuana. Kolbe said there was more marijuana in a school bag.

An officer retrieved a school bag and saw six containers filled with vaporizer cartridges that were labeled 77.65 – 78.12 percent THC. Police took the school bag and all its contents as evidence and seized the cash, phone and wallet.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.