WINONA, Minn. – A joint-agency police force including sharp-shooters intercepted 22-pound drug transfer in the Super 8 hotel parking lot under Sugar Loaf. The mule picking up the load was arrested without resistance. Taken to jail was Rafael Rosales Lopez, 41, of the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville. Police said. Lopez had arrived at the Super 8 about 3 :45 p.m. to pick up the drugs from a car that had been parked at the hotel and left unattended an hour earlier.
The tip, the take-down
The police operation, involving 15 officers, was assembled quickly after a tip about 12:30 p.m. The State Patrol notified Winona police that a trooper had made a traffic stop of a small nondescript Honda on Interstate 90 near Worthington and found it loaded with drugs. The driver admitted he was headed to a transfer point for the drugs in Winona, 200 miles away. The driver was arrested, and a Worthington officer took over the car and drove to Winona for the sting. He left the car parked unattended and unlocked outside the Super 8 hotel. Meanwhile, the Rochester-based Southeast Minnesota Violent Crime Enforcement unit mobilized a team to wait as inauspiciously as possible in the hotel area for the drugs to be picked up. An hour later, police said, Rosales Lopez drove into the lot, got out of his car, also a small Honda, and walked to the car with the drugs. At that moment officers sprang seemingly from nowhere and made the arrest. Police had prepared for the possibility of a difficult take-down. A State Patrol helicopter was in the air but out of hearing range in case the pick-up driver tried to flee. The regional unit has sharp-shooting capabilities. Rosales Lopez was not armed, police said, and the take-down was uneventful. He was booked at the county jail at 4:25 p.m. The 22-pound drug load was fentanyl, cocaine and meth, police said.
Detainee not in Winona drug scene
Winona police said they had no previous experience with Rosales Lopez.Police were unsure where the drug shipment originated. The West Coast seemed likely. Police also were unsure where the drugs were destined, although circumstances suggested the Twin Cities. The drugs were not packaged for retail sale, police said..
Rosales Lopez. Little did he know police had him under surveillance.
Parking lot take-down. At 1025 Sugar Loaf Road.