Five arrested after Winona County stakeout - KXLT - Fox 47 Rochester MN News, Weather and Sports

NEAR WINONA, Minn. (FOX 47) -- A drug fueled night ended in the arrest of five people at a motel near Winona.

The arrests happened after a stakeout by deputies and assistance from the Emergency Management Team.

Just off of U.S. 61, Winona County Sheriff's deputies along with the Southeast Minnesota Narcotics Gang and Task Force began surveillance late Wednesday after the sheriff received a tip about suspicious activity at the Sundown Motel.

"It does create a little bit more hazard because we don't know who's in the other rooms," said Winona County Chief Deputy Ron Ganrude. "Of course, if something happens you have to worry about not just the people you're dealing with but the general public that just spending the night there probably."

Authorities watched as people were coming and going frequently, suggesting possible drug activity and eventually they recognized someone with an outstanding warrant get into a vehicle. Just after 11 p.m. Wednesday, the vehicle was pulled over for a traffic stop and three arrests were made. Meanwhile, surveillance at the motel continued and it happened again.

"They saw somebody there they knew had a felony warrant out for him and there was talk that the person may be armed so we decided to do a search warrant so we decided to use the emergency response team to make that arrest," Ganrude said.

Two more people were taken into custody.

"It was a lot of man-hours, it was a lot of time," Ganrude said. "But ultimately it resulted in five arrests and no big incident. Nobody got hurt."

Ganrude said this is a good example of someone being observant and passing along valuable information.

"We really encourage people to call when they think something's up," Ganrude said. "If there's strange vehicles over at the neighbor's house and you know they aren't home don't wonder should I call, just call."

The suspects were charged Thursday with 5th degree controlled substance crimes.