Redwood County man serving concurrent prison on fleeing, drug charges

Dale Morin, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·2 min read

Nov. 7—OLIVIA

— A

Clements

, Minnesota, man was sentenced to prison for fleeing police in a motor vehicle after an attempted traffic stop in the city of

Morton

.

Darin James Sell, 41, was sentenced Sept. 15 in

Renville County District Court

to 15 months of prison for the offense after pleading guilty to the charge in June. In exchange, a gross misdemeanor charge of driving after cancellation was dismissed. He received credit for 146 days already served.

Sell was booked into the St. Cloud Correctional Facility on Aug. 25 after being convicted of a felony third-degree drug sale charge in Redwood County District Court.

According to court documents, he sold about 5.32 grams of methamphetamine in an undercover drug purchase conducted by the CEE-VI Drug and Gang Task Force in November of 2021.

A jury entered a guilty verdict on the drug charge after two days of trial in August. Sell was sentenced to 45 months of prison with credit for 157 days served in that case.

He requested execution of the Renville County sentence, which was ordered to be served concurrently with the Redwood County sentence.

Under Minnesota law, offenders are required to serve at least two-thirds of a sentence in custody and may be allowed to serve the remaining time on supervised release. According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Sell's expected release date is Oct. 20, 2025.

According to the Renville County criminal complaint, a sheriff's deputy in a marked squad car was on routine patrol in the city of

Morton

when he attempted a traffic stop on a Dodge Charger for failure to signal a turn and a cracked windshield.

The car pulled into a service station in Morton, and according to the complaint, took off when the deputy exited his squad car.

The car turned out of the parking lot onto Minnesota Highway 19 and then onto U.S. Highway 71, driving through some controlled intersections at a high rate of speed, according to the complaint.

The chase continued into Redwood County and the vehicle eventually drove into a garage at a residence in rural Clements. The driver of the vehicle was then seen manually closing the garage door. According to the report, the deputy was able to see the driver and identify what he was wearing.

A search warrant to enter the rural Clements residence was granted, and the Renville County Emergency Response Team entered the home and arrested a male that matched the description.

The male was later identified as Sell. It was also determined that Sell's license was canceled. Authorities also found an arrest warrant out from a different county.