By justine wettschreck
Daily Globe
HASTINGS -- A former Worthington man, who worked as a Nobles County jailer in 1998, was arrested Friday in Hastings on methamphetamine charges.
Michael Todd Haugen, 42, of Hastings, is charged with a first-degree controlled substance crime, a felony, in Dakota County District Court.
According to the criminal complaint, an undercover officer made several purchases from Haugen in less than two months that totaled more than 13 grams of meth. The purchases were made at the Hastings Shell Mart, where Haugen was the manager. At least one of the buys was made while another employee, who seemed to have knowledge of the meth sales, was nearby.
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During one of the buys, Haugen allegedly brought the undercover officer into the back room of the business, where he pulled some small plastic bags and an electronic scale out of a safe and weighed an "eight ball" of meth out while the officer waited.
On Dec. 23, an agent from the Dakota County Drug Task Force went to the store where Haugen worked and was told he was not there. The agent proceeded to Haugen's residence, where he observed Haugen and another man loading furniture into a trailer.
The agent waited for the truck to leave and had it pulled over by the Hastings Police Department. The other man, Jeffrey Kuhn, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Two Ecstasy pills were found in his pocket.
In a statement, Haugen admitted to selling meth out of the business, but said he had only been doing it for two months and did not sell much.
Officers confiscated a used meth pipe, 11 unused meth pipes and between 100 and 150 gram-sized plastic bags from the store.
Police and local residents had been unhappy since the store started selling small glass pipes, bongs and small plastic bags in November 2004, and even approached the store owner about discontinuing the sales to no avail.
The sale of the drug paraphernalia is not illegal unless the items have drug residue.
Haugen was previously convicted of a fifth-degree drug charge in Nobles County in 2002.
