Drug charges filed after woman gives up cocaine hidden in underwear
A routine traffic stop last Thursday resulted in the arrest of three people for drugs as well as firearm possession by a felon for two of the three.By: Jana Peterson, Pine Journal
A routine traffic stop last Thursday resulted in the arrest of three people for drugs as well as firearm possession by a felon for two of the three.
Jerome Davis and Melissa Davis, a divorced couple who both reside in Duluth, and Earl Ardan Harvey of St. Paul were charged Monday in Carlton County Court with one count each of second-degree felony drug possession, while Jerome Davis and Harvey were also charged with possession of a firearm by a felon.
The felony drug charges almost didn’t happen, because Melissa Davis was initially allowed to drive away from the scene.
According to the criminal complaint, on Thursday, Sept. 15, deputies from the Carlton County Sheriff’s Department and Minnesota State Patrol Trooper David Vereecken pulled over a 2000 GMC Yukon on Interstate 35 near Cloquet for equipment violations, including a broken headlight. When officers found that Jerome Davis was driving without valid driving privileges, they “attempted to find another suitable driver in the vehicle” to drive the car away from the scene. When speaking with Harvey, a passenger in the back seat, deputies detected the odor of burnt marijuana and commenced a search of the inside of the vehicle. At that point, they discovered Harvey had marijuana and a silver pistol was hidden in the rear pocket of the front passenger seat in front of where the St. Paul man had been seated.
Through brief investigation, the complaint states, the law enforcement officers had learned that both Jerome Davis and Harvey had prior convictions for felonies and felony crimes of violence, so possession of a gun by either man was illegal.
Both men were arrested and Melissa Davis was allowed to drive her ex-husband’s vehicle away from the scene.
Then Harvey spilled the beans.
According to the complaint, “Harvey became very upset after realizing he was in a large amount of trouble for possessing the pistol.” At that point, the complaint stated, Harvey told Vereecken that Melissa Davis had both granular cocaine and crack cocaine hidden on her person. Vereecken had Duluth squads stop Davis as she approached the city and Vereecken drove to that location.
When the trooper asked Melissa Davis whether she had the drugs on her person, the complaint states that she confessed to voluntarily hiding the drugs and retrieved the illegal narcotics from her undergarments. In total, officers recovered a total of 14.7 grams of granular cocaine and 3 grams of crack cocaine from her.
In a subsequent interview, according to the complaint, Harvey told officers he received the gun from Jerome Davis as a gift in exchange for helping him procure drugs in the Twin Cities metro area, drugs they were delivering to the Duluth area. Harvey said he normally receives $100 for his services but this time the gun was his payment.
In court Monday, Assistant County Attorney Michael Boese asked for $120,000 bond for Jerome Davis, calling him the “the mastermind” of the operation.
“He owned the vehicle, got his ex-wife to come along, went to the Cities and, with the help of Mr. Harvey, procured the drugs,” Boese said.
Defense attorney Tom Skare argued for a lower bail amount, noting that Jerome Davis has lived in Duluth since 1996 and has six children.
Both men have criminal histories.
Jerome Davis has burglary charges on his criminal record, dating back to 1988, as well as drug charges in 1998 and 2006. He pleaded guilty to fourth-degree felony drug possession in August 2008, and was sentenced to 36 months at a Minnesota correctional facility at that time. Davis has also gone by the names of Jay Davis, Ramone Doyle and Gerry Davis.
Earl Harvey has been convicted of felony terroristic threats, kidnapping and failure to register as a predatory offender– and goes by a number of different names including Dannie Brown, Danny Mann and variations of Derek Allen Davis Goode, given with a different date of birth.
In the end, Judge Dale Wolf set bail for Melissa Davis at $50,000/$5,000 cash while he set bail for both Harvey and Jerome Davis at $100,000/$10,000 cash each.
Davis, Davis and Harvey are all scheduled for their next court appearance at 9 a.m. Sept. 23 in Carlton County Court.
Tags: carlton county, news, updates, crime, cloquet, duluth
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