Feds indict 21 people in alleged drug ring

by Dennis Geisinger

The last month of 2007 proved to be a busy one for Minneapolis
3rd Precinct police investigators, with arrests made in recent homicides,
robberies and in an alleged drug ring.

A double homicide occurred after a reported argument in the
early morning hours of Dec. 1. Officers from the 5th Precinct
responded to the report of a shooting in the 3100 block of
Pleasant Ave South.When officers arrived, they found one male dead
in an apartment hallway and another in the alley a short distance
away. Najib A. Omar and Arie M. Jama were named as the
victims by the Hennepin County. medical examiner’s office.

On Dec. 26, second-degree murder charges were filed against
21-year-old Zachery Otis Matthews in the death of Kristine
Catheryn Larson. Matthews is Larson’s ex-boyfriend.
The evening of Dec. 19, Larson’s body was pulled from a
burning vehicle in the rear of 2206 24th Ave. S. The homeowner of
that address reported that she did not see the victim’s vehicle in her
driveway when she left at 6 p.m., but did see it when she returned at 8 p.m.

Matthews, who was a suspect from the beginning, told police that
he was at his apartment in St. Paul the entire evening, but cell phone
records revealed he’d made two calls that evening that registered off
the cell phone tower near Hwy. 94 and Lexington. The calls would not
have registered off that tower if he was not in that area.

Afterward, Matthews told officers from the St. Paul Park Police
Dept. that he’d come home to his St. Paul apartment and found
Larson dead inside a closet near his kitchen. He said he’d placed her
body in the car and drove it to an alley in Minneapolis near Hwy. 94
and left the car there. He denied starting the fire.

A friend of Larson’s told police that Larson had dropped her off in
the afternoon at her apartment while on her way to Matthews’
apartment in St. Paul to pick up her 2-year-old child.

Matthews is in custody at the Hennepin County Adult Detention
Facility. Bail has been set at $1 million.

Jamaal B. R. Freeman, 21, of Burnsville, was ordered held on $1
million bail Tuesday, Dec. 4, after he was charged with second-degree
murder in the death of Mark Loesch.

County prosecutors say Freeman swung the aluminum bat that killed the 41-year-old bicyclist on Sept. 12 on the 3700 block of Elliot Avenue. Freeman is the second man charged in the death of Loesch.

Twenty-one people were placed under federal indictment on Dec. 4
for their alleged involvement in a drug ring that police say was a
major supplier for the 3rd Precinct area, especially the Phillips neighborhood.
Twelve of the 21 people were taken into custody Dec. 6 and another eight on Dec. 20 after officers served two search warrants. Along with those arrests, a large amount of drugs and cash were also recovered. The U.S. Attorneys’ Office announced the suspects are charged on 68 federal counts, including conspiring to distribute and possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. Six were each
charged with one count of use of communication facility in furtherance
of a drug trafficking crime and one with possessing a firearm.

If convicted on the conspiracy count, the 21 each face a potential maximum penalty of life in prison, Distribution carries a potential maximum penalty of 40 years, use of a communication facility has a maximum of four years and the possession of a firearm charge has a maximum penalty of 10 years.

The case is the result of an investigation by the ATF and Minneapolis Police Dept.’s 3rd Precinct and Violent Offenders Task Force,with assistance from the
U.S. Marshals Service, the Minnesota Gang Strike Force and Crystal, Hopkins, Maplewood, New Hope and Shakopee police.

On Dec. 18, two juveniles were arrested and positively identified for involvement in a robbery/assault in the 3500 block of 11th Avenue, near where one of them lives. They are suspected as being involved in at least seven area robberies since the end of November in a small area of the Powderhorn Park neighborhood between East 31st Street and 33rd Street and between 12th Avenue and 16th Avenue. All occurred between 5:15 p.m. and 10 p.m. In five of the robberies, a handgun was shown or implied and in one case, the suspects physically took a wallet from their victim. Some of the robberies occurred close to the victims’ homes.

Descriptions of the suspects vary, with each incident having one, two or three suspects involved. They are described as being between 18 and 25 years of age, wearing dark clothing and jackets or sweatshirts with hoods.