St. Cloud man sentenced to 34 months in prison for drug possession after Dawson, Minnesota, traffic stop

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

Dec. 14—MADISON

— A 31-year-old man was sentenced in

Lac qui Parle County

District Court to 34 months in prison after a jury found him guilty in June of third-degree drug possession.

Deronti Rogers Jr. was sentenced Oct. 13 by Judge Thomas Van Hon, who gave Rogers credit for 100 days served. A charge of knowingly failing to register as a predatory offender was dismissed. A lesser charge of driving after license cancellation was not adjudicated.

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. Rogers' expected release date from the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud is May 28, 2024, according to the Minnesota Department of Corrections website.

According to the amended criminal complaint, a deputy during a traffic stop April 12, 2021, in Dawson could smell an odor of marijuana from the vehicle Rogers was driving. Rogers told the deputy that he had been living at a nearby residence in Dawson for approximately one week and was running an errand.

According to the complaint, Rogers told the deputy that he had smoked marijuana and that he is a convicted felon. Another deputy arrived and a search of the vehicle was conducted.

Two bags of a white crystalline substance, later positively determined to be methamphetamine, totaling under 17 grams were found in a backpack, as well as a digital scale, according to the complaint.

In an interview with law enforcement, Rogers took ownership of all the items in the backpack except the drugs. He said the backpack belonged to another party, and that the vehicle he was driving was registered to somebody else. He also said that he had used the scale in the past to sell drugs, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, Rogers was convicted of unlawful restraint in 2012 in McDough County, Illinois, and is required to register as a predatory offender, but had not notified law enforcement that he was living in Dawson.