After several complaints from residents of the Fond du Lac Reservation, Cloquet police officers set up an undercover drug-sting operation that resulted in the June 29 arrest of four people involved in the sale of crack cocaine.
Tiago Antonio Gilbert, 19, and Henry Yakima Thin Elk, 24, both from the Twin Cities area, and local residents Amanda Verle Reynolds, 20, and Little Fawn Fohrenkam, 27, were arraigned July 1 in Carlton County Court.
All four were charged with controlled substance crime in the third degree (felony sale of a narcotic drug), while Gilbert and Thin Elk also were charged with crime committed for the benefit of a gang.
According to the criminal complaint, subsequent police investigation revealed that Gilbert and Thin Elk allegedly are members of the "21st Street Boys," a metro-area gang, and supplied the crack cocaine to sell to local drug users known by Reynolds and Fohrenkam.
The alleged crack cocaine sale was monitored by police through observation and recording devices worn by the police informant making the purchase, which was paid for with marked currency. According to the complaint, Reynolds drove her car and got out to make the sale in the informant's vehicle. When she returned to her car, she gave the money to Thin Elk, who was the front-seat passenger in her car. After driving away, Thin Elk threw the currency into the back seat toward Gilbert just before police stopped the vehicle. After the arrest, $5 of the marked currency was found in the back seat, while Gilbert had $395.
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Assistant County Attorney Michael Boese was the prosecuting attorney July 1. Boese asked for high bail for Gilbert and Thin Elk in particular, but noted that he believes all four of the suspects were "equal in culpability." Boese noted he believes both men are a flight risk despite Thin Elk's physical condition. He is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair.
"I understand that he is in a wheelchair, but that doesn't stop his criminal activity," Boese told the judge. "In fact, he bragged ... that (gang activity) is how he became paralyzed."
According to police, Thin Elk has gang tattoos on his face and arms and Gilbert had a pen-and-ink gang-symbol drawing on his hand and arm.
Bond was set at $75,000 for Gilbert and at $80,000 for Thin Elk. Bond was set at $40,000 for Reynolds and at $10,000 for Fohrenkam.
Boese had asked for $50,000 bond for Reynolds, stating that "her role was to set this up," and noting that she was the person who actually exchanged the drugs for money.
Boese said he thought Fohrenkam probably was "the least culpable" of the four.
Still, in this case, it's likely that no one will get a pass.
"If this were a federal case, they likely would have been charged with conspiracy," Boese said after the hearing. "We don't really have an equivalent law here, but in Minnesota, you're also kind of liable for the entire crime. Everyone kind of had a part to further the whole transaction."
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Gilbert's next court appearance is set for Wednesday, while Thin Elk, Fohrenkam and Reynolds are scheduled to appear again Monday morning.
The Pine Journal and the News Tribune are Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
