[bold on]Robert Koch[bold off][fm][bold on][bold off][bold on][bold off]
Staff Reporter[fm]
According to Minnesota sentencing guidelines, he could face a 98-month sentence if convicted of the May 31 offense.
A 65-year-old man was charged with possession and sale of a controlled substance June 2, following a May 31 arrest at a West Bank bar.
Minneapolis police entered Palmers Bar at 500 Cedar Ave. S. and allegedly found 11.6 grams of cocaine and $917 cash on William Felson, according to the criminal complaint.
He was in here less than five minutes when the police came and grabbed him, said bartender Kurk Nelson.
Stefan Tolin, the Minneapolis attorney representing Felson, could not be reached for comment.
An informant tipped police the day of the arrest, describing Felson and saying he would be in the bar later, according to the complaint.
Police said they recovered bindles of a white powder that later tested as cocaine.
The amount – nearly half an ounce – has a street value of at least $1,000, a Minneapolis police narcotics unit member said.
People arent just walking around with half an ounce in their pocket, the officer said. He either just bought it or was delivering it.
Florence Johnstone, the owner of Palmers Bar, said she wasnt working when the arrest occurred. But she has seen Felson at her establishment in the past.
He has a lot of friends in the area, Johnstone said. Had I ever seen him sell something, hed be long gone.
Felson pleaded guilty to second-degree possession in 1996 and was sentenced to 58 months in prison.
According to Minnesota sentencing guidelines, he could face a 98-month sentence if convicted of the May 31 offense.
Felson, who is free after posting $10,000 bail, is scheduled to appear in court June 6.
In other police news:
( An early morning fire blackened a one-room apartment in the Marcy Holmes neighborhood May 31, sending a 49-year-old man to the hospital for minor burns and smoke inhalation.
The blaze broke out at 12:01 a.m. in the second floor of a multi-unit house at 1424 6th St. S.E.
The fire has been officially listed as an undetermined fire, said Lt. Rick Nelson of the Minneapolis police arson unit. It may have resulted from careless smoking.
Firefighters broke two second-floor windows in their effort to contain the fire.
I had to move out of the house because there was smoke damage in the second floor, said Larry Leininger, another building resident. Theyre repairing the house now and everybody should probably be moved back in a month or two.
( A hydraulic excavator weighing five tons and valued at $31,500 was reported stolen May 30 from a construction site outside the University Aquatic Center.
It was a gutsy effort, said Pat Greeley, superintendent with Carl Bolander & Sons Co., the St. Paul-based contractor that owns the machine. The perpetrators entered the fenced-off construction site at 1910 University Ave. S.E. sometime during the Memorial Day weekend and presumably carried away the 15-foot tracked-machine on a flatbed trailer.
It has become a major problem in the construction industry, said Bruce Bolander, president of Bolander & Sons. Our insurance rates reflect our theft history.
Carl Bolander & Sons is preparing the future site of a parking ramp and tunnel connector outside the Aquatic Center.
The University bears no responsibility for a contractors equipment stolen from its property.
[italic on]Robert Koch cover police and courts [italic off][italic on]and welcomes comments at [italic off][italic on][email protected].[italic off]