Crime & Safety
Woman Cleared in Inver Grove Heights Drug Bust That Yielded 391 Pounds of Marijuana
Almost 400 pounds of marijuana were seized from her boyfriend's properties in 2011, but a Dakota County judge said there was no evidence she knew about the operation.
A Faribault woman is off the hook for the 391 pounds of marijuana seized by police from her boyfriend's Inver Grove Heights properties in 2011.
A Dakota County judge dismissed charges Tuesday against Holly Bignell, 30, a Faribault woman known at the time of the bust as Holly Swenson, the Pioneer Press is reporting.
District Judge Patrice Sutherland said there was "no evidence she even knew about the alleged marijuana operation," according to the paper.
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Bignell's boyfriend at the time, Scott Bradley Cunningham, 43, and Brian Lee Speldrick, 53, both of Inver Grove Heights, are still being charged with felony drug possession and sale. On Wednesday, they declined a plea agreement that would have given Cunningham more than 16 years behind bars and Speldrick 10 years, according to the Pioneer Press.
They are charged with first-degree drug possession with intent to sell and first-degree drug possession and are due back in court on Feb. 26.
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