On or about April 5, 2026 at approximately 11:45 PM, Deputy Zackary Skurla of the Carlton County Sheriff's Office was at the Kwik Trip in Carlton, Minnesota when he noticed a 2011 black GMC Yukon parked at the gas pumps with a dealer license plate on it. Deputy Skurla ran the license plate through NCIC and it came back "Out of Business" and unregistered since 2024. When the vehicle pulled out of the pumps it then went around the back of the Kwik Trip store and exited farthest from Deputy Skurla's squad car, which was not the most direct route to exit.
Deputy Skurla then noticed as the vehicle passed him that the plate light was out. Deputy Skurla got behind the vehicle as it turned south onto County Road 61, noticing that the vehicle was displaying 2025 tabs, not the 2024 tabs that the license plate check indicated would be on the vehicle. Deputy Skurla conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle on County Road 61 near Olsonville Road, Twin Lakes Township in Carlton County, Minnesota. There was a male individual in the driver's seat, and a female individual, later identified as Shari Lynn Hughes-Cox, DOB/05121966, the Defendant herein, in the front passenger seat.
Both parties were checked and the Defendant came back with a warrant non-extraditable warrant from Wisconsin for controlled substance and paraphernalia, with a prior arrest in 2025 for possession of methamphetamine. Deputy Skurla spoke to the driver, who indicated that the vehicle belonged to the female passenger and she had come to his home in the vehicle, and that he had no possessions in the vehicle. Deputy Skurla then spoke to the Defendant who indicated similarly that the vehicle was hers and she had come to visit the driver.
When asked if anything was going on the Defendant began to offer up consent to search the vehicle, stopping short of doing so. She then showed Deputy Skurla a pill bottle that contained a mixture of improperly packaged prescription drug medications, including adderall, ritalin and klonopin. Deputy Skurla then asked to search the vehicle and consent was granted. When searching the Defendant's purse, Deputy Skurla located several open, empty coin purses consistent with possession of controlled substances and drug kits.
In the passenger side door pocket, Deputy Skurla then located a sandwich baggie containing what Deputy Skurla suspected was methamphetamine. The suspected methamphetamine was weighed and field tested. The gross weight was 20.98 grams and the field test was positive for methamphetamine.
