By Lori Ehde
Before South Dakota's Roy Hansen was arrested on felony drug charges earlier last week, he hung around Luverne long enough to spend some cash.
Terry Connell of Connell Car Care brushed shoulders with the alleged criminal Saturday, Feb. 3.
"He was kinda your typical rough-looking fellow," Connell said Tuesday.
Hansen had stopped at the used car lot on East Main Street Friday, Feb. 2, with a man in a car with South Dakota plates.
The next day, Hansen came back and picked out an Oldsmobile Alero for $9,900.
"It was a get-away car, I suppose," Connell said.
He paid for the car in cash - with $100 and $50 bills - and drove off the lot.
"He acted fine, and he was pretty cool about things," Connell said. "I had no reason to believe he was anything but legit. If someone wants to buy a car, you sell him a car."
Federal law requires businesses to report cash transactions over $10,000 to authorities.
Hansen was arrested in the parking lot of Luverne's Comfort Inn Sunday, Feb. 4, on a South Dakota warrant.
Officers executed a search warrant Monday in two rooms rented by Hansen and two others.
They found $6,700 cash in a briefcase and about three pounds of powder methamphetamine with a street value of about $135,000.
The case is under review by local, state and federal officials. Federal authorities assist with drug cases involving a pound or more of meth.
Hansen, 39, was indicted last month by a Minnehaha County grand jury on two previous charges of possession of a controlled substance. He pleaded not guilty to those charges Monday in Sioux Falls, and his trial is scheduled for April 2.
He is held on $100,000 cash bond at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. He will not appear in court for his Luverne Feb. 4 arrest until after his previous cases in South Dakota are cleared.
The business transaction between Hansen and Connell Car Care is legal, but the car is now parked in the city impound lot in Luverne.
By law, if a vehicle is used to transport a controlled substance it becomes subject to forfeiture. The same is true for money or other items of value found in close proximity to drugs.
If the court orders as such, the cash found in the Comfort Inn and the car purchased at Connell could become property of Rock County Law Enforcement.
Proceeds would be used for expenses incurred in connection with law enforcement.
According to the Rock County Attorney's Office, this would likely be the largest forfeiture ever collected in Rock County.