First-degree drug charges against Pennock couple dropped

WILLMAR -- First-degree drug sale charges against a Pennock couple have been dismissed because Bureau of Criminal Apprehension laboratory tests determined the powder confiscated from their home was not a controlled substance.

The dismissal was filed Sept. 20 in Kandiyohi County District Court.

Elio Naranjo Infante, 42, and Norma Infante, 47, were both charged after Aug. 3, when CEE-VI Drug Task Force agents and other law enforcement officers served a search warrant on their home on First Street North in Pennock. During the search, 53 grams of what was suspected to be cocaine was discovered in a multi-vitamin container in a bathroom cabinet.

Officers also located drug paraphernalia, marijuana, an EBT welfare benefit card, four surveillance cameras, each strategically placed around the home, and an "owe sheet."

The home also had a surveillance system had two different monitoring locations in the living room and hallway of the residence. A police scanner and two-way radios were also located in the home.