The five men arrested at the Gopher Campus Motor Lodge were released Friday from Hennepin County Jail without being charged.
Police arrested the men Wednesday in a drug bust at the motel at 10th Avenue and Fourth Street S.E. The bust followed a three-month undercover investigation. Under Minnesota law, the men could only be held for 36 hours without charges.
“In essence, this whole thing was part of an ongoing multi-jurisdictional investigation,” said Penny Parrish, a spokeswoman for the Minneapolis Police Department.
The men still might be charged after the investigation concludes, Parrish added.
Police found crack cocaine and marijuana in two rooms where the five men and one juvenile were arrested during the late-night raid. One of the arrestees pulled a gun on officers before he was detained, according to a police report.
Two of the others had prior arrests for assault and marijuana possession.
Despite the evidence, the investigators chose not to present the case to the county attorney’s office.
“If it is a large narcotics investigation, and they’ve arrested five or six people, it could be part of something much bigger,” Parrish said.
Kari Dziedzic, a spokeswoman for the Hennepin County Attorney’s office, said the police are responsible for investigating the case and submitting the information to the county attorney’s office.
She said if evidence is not strong enough to charge suspects, the police do not send cases to her office.
“If the evidence was there, they probably would have submitted it to our office,” she said. “If they don’t present us a case, we can’t make a decision.”
She also said some cases are not sent when an ongoing investigation could be jeopardized.
Parrish said officials will try to get information from the men and will continue looking into various aspects of the case.
— Brian Close