St. Cloud neighborhood recovers after recent fentanyl bust

A north side St. Cloud neighborhood is recovering after a drug bust this summer resulted in the arrest of three residents and the end of four "terrible" years.

Tammy Anderson, 64, remembers her days growing up near the 1400 block of Breckenridge Avenue North by the BNSF railroad depot, a short four-minute drive from downtown St. Cloud.

She recalls playing with the neighborhood kids and running up and down the street without a worry on her mind. This peaceful sentiment followed Anderson as she grew older and made the move to nearby Cold Spring, leaving her mother behind without much worry.

"We were all railroaders in the neighborhood. My family was railroaders, and it was a family neighborhood full of kids," Anderson said. "We'd be playing, and we didn't have any problems. It wasn't like it has been, you didn't have to worry back then. It was a nice neighborhood. It really was."

Jason Ferderer shared similar sentiments. He was excited when he bought his house in 2016. The 50-year-old St. Cloud resident was shocked to find a good deal on a property with a big quarter-acre fenced-in lot; a home he knew his dog would enjoy.

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The two, alongside other neighbors, told the St. Cloud Times the neighborhood eventually took a turn for the worse. Because of this shift, Anderson had to return to her family home after it got broken into, and she no longer felt comfortable leaving her mother home alone.

"The neighborhood has completely turned over since this drug issue has happened — people are scared," Ferderer said. "They're terrified. We're tired of being threatened, we're tired of being shot at, we're tired of being broken into. We're tired of getting our things stolen."

Events progressed to the point where some neighbors packed up and left, S.K., who asked to be referred to by her initials for safety purposes, said. She told the St. Cloud Times it was peaceful when she first moved in, but it was nothing short of terrible once the trio at 1424 Breckenridge Ave. N. unpacked their boxes.

This trio — consisting of Devounteono "Krusher" Tyson, Richard "Rick Mob" Ayler and Trae "Fatt Trae" Patterson — was involved in a city-wide St. Cloud Police Department SWAT team drug bust this past July. The three were allegedly selling fentanyl.

Neighbors tell the St. Cloud Times they've been having issues with the trio since July 2020, and frustrations grew as the problem wasn't quickly resolved. 

While area residents have been reporting the alleged operation for four years, St. Cloud Police Chief Jeffrey Oxton said the alleged 1424 Breckenridge Ave. N. drug traffickers were diligent with their work and made it difficult for officers to collect enough evidence to hold up in court.

"This was a difficult house. It was a problem house in which the people that were doing illegal things were very cautious about how they were doing them," Oxton said. "When we would show up for calls, we got zero cooperation, so even though we might have an assault at that location or an overdose, nobody's telling us anything, and nobody's cooperating."

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Neighbors say disturbances began on July 4, 2020, shortly after the trio moved to St. Cloud's north side. 

"A call went to police on July 4, 2020, that they were (allegedly) selling drugs off of a card table in front of their home. Around 12 to 15 minutes later, that's when the cops finally showed up," Ferderer said. "By then, they'd already packed up their card table, rolled everything up and went in the house. They (probably) knew law enforcement was coming because they were sitting there listening to the scanner."

Incidents like this continued, Ferderer and his neighbors said. But that wasn't all. Large parties allegedly took place with the trio's home being described as a "common after-bar close party house," according to a 2023 SCPD officer narrative report.

Ferderer said cars would line the street. There were loud noises and trash littered the street's curb. These party-goers weren't just from the St. Cloud area either, police reports show alleged visitors coming from hundreds of miles away, including the Chicago area.

"There's literally (tons) of cars showing up overnight, parked on the street, not one of them occupied with parties going on," Ferderer said. "From 2020 up until just recently, I haven't slept on a Friday or Saturday evening because of the parties."

As time progressed, the police department increased its surveillance on the Breckenridge property. This resulted in increased traffic by both vehicle and foot on neighboring streets, said S.K., who resides near Breckenridge Avenue.

In addition to parties and drugs, residents in the once-quiet neighborhood allege they saw an increase in car thefts, broken-into vehicles, hit-and-runs and property theft.

Tensions between the alleged trio and neighbors escalated with time. Ferderer and Anderson said they've been threatened by the trio and those affiliated with them. They said these threats would come in several forms, including anonymous phone calls, but S.K. said fear ramped up as shootings began.

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It wasn't entirely unexpected to hear gunshots after the trio arrived, neighbors say, but one incident in particular stood out.

At roughly 4 a.m. on July 23, 2023, officers responded to gunshots in the area, which led to a house on 16th Avenue North allegedly being shot at.

St. Cloud Police officers arrived at the scene after receiving tips of gunshots on the 1400 block of Breckenridge Avenue North and hearing gunshots coming from St. Cloud's north side, according to police reports. Multiple neighbors told officers they heard between 10 to 15 gunshots that night.

As officers were driving to the neighborhood, they were informed by a pedestrian about a fight involving guns. Upon arrival, authorities discovered "multiple people standing in the front yard…of the 1424 Breckenridge Ave. address," but didn't see anyone running away or acting as if they were involved in a potential shooting.

When officers approached the house in question, police reports say Tyson told officers there were no actual gunshots and that it "was somebody driving past and shooting off Roman candles."

According to police records, no criminal charges were filed in relation to this incident.

Frustrations with a long investigation

The alleged drug traffickers were clever with their work to avoid being caught, Oxton said, but that didn't stop authorities from investigating the house. It just took time to gather enough evidence to give the Stearns County Attorney's Office enough proof to file charges. 

"Probable cause is something we have to establish, and we have to do it in a way that we know that our prosecutors...can go to that next level and prove that in a court of law and get a conviction, so it's not always easy," Oxton said. "The problem can be that in some cases, it can take longer than others."

Some neighbors grew frustrated with the delayed resolution. They wanted answers and got upset when authorities told them they couldn't provide specific details during an active investigation.

Neighbors who handed over video footage didn't understand why charges weren't being pressed, considering there was alleged proof of the incidents taking place. But even with the videos, it wasn't clear enough to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt."

Eventually, enough intel was gathered to start a Central Minnesota Violent Offenders Task Force investigation in late 2023, which Oxton said took nine months before there was substantial evidence to make arrests and ultimately file charges.

"I would tell people we're working on it," Oxton said. "Part of (the frustration was) I can't tell them (everything) because that would jeopardize or compromise that investigation."

St. Cloud's role in Minnesota drug trafficking

The trio's operation had several moving parts, according to the criminal complaint, including suspected suppliers from both St. Cloud and the Twin Cities. 

When the trio was busted, it was part of an investigation that in total seized at least 7,000 pills in nine months from multiple sources. This investigation led to the arrest of both suspected suppliers and low-level drug dealers, according to court records.

However, this group wasn't solely responsible for fentanyl sales in the city. The central Minnesota region as a whole experiences a high intake of fentanyl, which helped get Stearns County designated as a high-intensity drug trafficking area by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

This designation comes after 131 non-fatal and 23 fatal overdoses took place in 2023, including a 14-year-old and a 14-month-old falling victim to fentanyl.

Stearns County Sheriff Steve Soyka told the St. Cloud Times that Stearns County is prone to drug trafficking for several reasons, including higher profit yields and its centralized location.

Soyka said there's less competition among drug dealers in St. Cloud, which means they can set higher prices and collect more profits.

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"Minneapolis and St. Paul is a big metropolitan area, and there's plenty of drug dealing going on down there," Soyka said. "A lot of times, they come up here and also sell their drugs for $5 or $10 more a fentanyl pill than they're selling down in the city."

In addition to the prospect of a higher profit yield, St. Cloud is uniquely positioned to move drugs from the Twin Cities into Greater Minnesota and neighboring states.

"Roughly 90% of the fentanyl pills that we're seizing are coming up from Mexico," Soyka said. "They're coming across the border. Typically they'll come up through Texas and straight up I-35. They used to make some stops in places like Kansas City and big cities like that. They would offload some there, but that's the traditional way."

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told the St. Cloud Times that Minnesota's largest city is taking steps to curb the amount of drugs making it into the state and eventually to St. Cloud.

"We are targeting the traffickers upstream," Frey said. "There's partnerships that we have going between the Minneapolis Police Department and a number of other federal agencies. The number of pills, (and) the amount of fentanyl that is coming in is just incredible."

Frey said it's hard to track the drug because of its various modes of transit into the region. The Twin Cities metro area has seen fentanyl make its way via traditional road transportation but also by airplanes and postal mail .

What's next for Breckenridge Avenue?

Neighbors tell the St. Cloud Times they're finally able to get shut-eye on the weekends. Traffic has also gone down considerably. While it's getting better, Anderson, Ferderer and S.K. said they're not completely at ease, citing possible accomplices still at large.

"The difference (in the neighborhood before and after the bust) is extremely noticeable," S.K. said.

As for the trio, they were evicted from their rental home and transported to the Stearns County Jail. 

Tyson and Patterson are being held on $2 million bail, according to court records. Ayler is being held on $1 million bail.

The trio's eviction comes as the St. Cloud Health and Inspections Department deems the property unfit for occupancy. Health Director Matt O'Brien told the St. Cloud Times the property is now in the management company's control, which is making repairs.

"Staff inspected the property and posted it unsafe to occupy due to life-safety conditions," O'Brien said. "The life safety conditions included missing smoke detectors, missing carbon monoxide detectors, general unsanitary conditions throughout the property, lack of egress and sleeping in unapproved areas."

The trio is expected to have hearings this month, with Patterson scheduled for Oct. 23 and Ayler for Oct. 25. Tyson had an Oct. 1 hearing, but it was canceled and will be rescheduled.

Corey Schmidt covers politics and courts for the St. Cloud Times. He can be reached at cschmidt@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Minnesota drug house busted, St. Cloud neighborhood recovers