Police who stopped a Dodge driven by a Minneapolis man after a report of someone on a bike flagging down vehicles to sell drugs found more than 40 grams of crack cocaine and a loaded stolen handgun inside, according to charges.
L C Gallion, 63, faces four felony charges: first-degree drug sale, second-degree drug possession, receiving stolen property and possessing a firearm or ammunition after a conviction for a crime of violence.
According to the complaint, officers in the area of East Lake Street and 12th Avenue South in Minneapolis responded on September 25 to a report of a person on a bike flagging down vehicles to sell drugs who was associated with a grey Dodge. Officers found the Dodge on the 2900 block of 12th Avenue South and saw the driver, later identified as Gallion, holding a cell phone while driving. Officers stopped the vehicle and saw an open marijuana container in the center console.
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During a search of the vehicle, officers recovered a loaded black Springfield .45-caliber handgun in a holster from the compartment under the armrest. The firearm had a silver magazine with live rounds and a round chambered. The complaint says the gun had been reported stolen. They also found a clear plastic baggie containing white rocks of suspected narcotics wrapped in a yellow paper face mask, and another baggie with a white powdery substance inside a small black leather drawstring bag.
Field tests were positive for crack cocaine. The substance inside the yellow paper mask weighed 13.9 grams, and the substance inside the black leather drawstring bag weighed 27.8 grams, for a total of 41.7 grams. In the officer’s training and experience, the complaint says, that amount exceeds a personal-use amount.
The first-degree count accuses Gallion of selling or possessing with intent to sell 17 grams or more of cocaine or methamphetamine. The other counts accuse him of possessing 25 grams or more of cocaine or methamphetamine, receiving a stolen firearm and possessing a firearm or ammunition after a conviction for a crime of violence.
The complaint says Gallion was convicted of second-degree assault in 2001 and third-degree assault in 2018 and that both are crimes of violence that make him ineligible to possess firearms under state law.
The charges were filed September 28 in Hennepin County District Court.
About This Charge
Minnesota’s weapons offenses include § 624.713 (possession of a firearm by an ineligible person; a prior crime of violence carries a five-year mandatory minimum under § 609.11 subd. 5(b)), § 609.66 (dangerous weapons, including drive-by shooting at § 609.66 subd. 1e) and § 609.165 (firearm restoration after a felony). Reckless discharge of a firearm within a municipality is charged under § 609.66 subd. 1a.
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Jurisdictional Context
Hennepin County is Minnesota’s most populous jurisdiction. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office handles felony prosecutions across Minneapolis and 44 other cities; the Fourth Judicial District presides over felony arraignments and trials at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis.
