Driver With 43 Grams of Meth Charged in Fergus Falls

A Fergus Falls police officer found more than 40 grams of methamphetamine, cash and drug paraphernalia during a late-night traffic stop after a driver acted agitated and tried to run, according to the complaint.

Randy David Lee Jr., 39, is charged in Otter Tail County District Court with first-degree drug sale, second-degree drug possession, obstructing legal process and fleeing a peace officer by a means other than a motor vehicle. The charges were filed October 12.

According to the complaint, an officer on patrol in Fergus Falls at about 11:24 p.m. on October 10 saw a vehicle with heavily tinted windows turn onto Lincoln Avenue and pull into a gas station. The driver did not get fuel, went into the store, returned with a bag and sat in the vehicle before leaving the station. The officer followed as the vehicle continued onto Union Avenue and Cavour, then initiated a traffic stop after observing the window tint.

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The complaint says the driver, identified as Randy David Lee Jr., claimed he did not have his wallet and gave inconsistent information about where he was coming from and who owned the vehicle. The officer noted the driver’s mood shifted quickly from calm to extremely aggravated and he was visibly shaking. When the officer returned after running his information, he saw the driver manipulating the glove box and a grey case on the passenger seat.

The officer asked the driver to exit the vehicle. The driver turned the vehicle on, rolled up the windows, exited and locked the doors. Field sobriety tests were performed and a narcotics K9 indicated the presence of a controlled substance in the vehicle.

The officer began a search and found several plastic baggies, a glass smoking device with residue and inside the glove box, a baggie containing a white crystalline substance, a scale and a glass pipe. Pill bottles with Lee’s name and his wallet were also found.

As the officer attempted to arrest him, the complaint says Lee ran and continued to flee despite commands to stop, until another officer intervened. He struggled against officers trying to apprehend him and was eventually placed in a squad vehicle, where he began hitting his head against the window and yelling about money in the vehicle.

The search continued and officers found $4,260 in cash in the sunglasses area and a backpack in the trunk containing suspected marijuana and more crystalline substance, along with mail addressed to Lee. The window tint tested at 12 percent light transmission. The crystalline substance from the glove box field tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed 43 grams.

The next day, Lee commented to the officer that “this was all over a bag of meth” when told he could not get some of his property back.