On December 27, 2025, at 11:40 P.M., an Inver Grove Heights police officer was on routine patrol in a parking lot of a hotel in the City of Inver Grove Heights, Dakota County, Minnesota, when he observed a vehicle with no front or rear license plate displayed. Once the vehicle occupants, later identified as defendant Lucas Michael Peters (the driver) and V. R. (the passenger), went into the hotel, the officer looked at the vehicle’s Vehicle Identification Number and ran a check and learned the vehicle was last registered in 2012 in the State of California.
After approximately 20 minutes, the defendant returned to the vehicle and began to drive away. The officer then stopped the vehicle. The defendant told the officer that he had recently purchased the vehicle in the State of Wisconsin. The defendant provided the officer with a Wisconsin title to the vehicle, and when the officer ran a check it indicated had expired in 2022. The officer ran checks on the defendant’s Minnesota driving privileges and learned they had been cancelled. The officer asked the defendant to step out of the vehicle.
When the defendant stepped out of the vehicle, the officer observed two Minnesota motor vehicle license plates tucked between the driver’s seat and the center console. The defendant told the officer the license plates were for a different vehicle. The defendant admitted there was a “pipe” in the vehicle that he had used to smoke methamphetamine approximately 6 hours ago. The defendant gave the officers consent to search his vehicle. Under a blanket on the back seat was a container with suspected methamphetamine inside.
The substance was later preliminarily tested, and the test indicated the presence of methamphetamine and it weighed.20 grams. In a shoulder bag was an electronic scale and numerous plastic bags of different sizes. The defendant admitted the suspected methamphetamine was methamphetamine. The defendant said the scale was for weighing drugs when he purchased them so he didn’t get “ripped off.” Defendant was unable to explain why there were so many plastic bags of so many different sizes in the shoulder bag.
The officers later discovered a bag at the bottom of the shoulder bag that contained what they believed were hallucinogenic mushrooms. The mushrooms were later tested at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the test indicated the presence of Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and psilocyn. The net weight was 17.764 grams. In the defendant’s wallet was $643 in small denominations of cash, except for one $50.00 bill. The officer knew that people who buy and sell controlled substances carry large amounts of cash. 3 19HA-CR-26-464 Filed in District Court State of Minnesota 4/1/2026 The defendant told the officers he was at the hotel to meet and hang out his friend “V” whom he had know for 6 months, but he did not know her last name.
Two phones were seized from the defendant and later examined pursuant to a search warrant. Some of the relevant information on the phones were chat messages between the defendant and a number later determined to belong to “V”. On 12/27/25 from a phone number to “V’s” phone at 1:59 P.M. “Hey I’m gonna need to bump into at some point today and probably need whole one.” The officer knows that “whole one” refers to a whole unit of measure, ie. Whole gram, whole ounce. On December 27, 2025 at 2:30 P.M. The defendant replies to the phone number that had sent the text to “V’s” phone “Well lmk”, which the officer knew meant “Well, let me know.” On December 27, 2025 at 2:47 P.M. A text was sent from the phone number to “V’s” phone “I will need it.
