GLENWOOD - A Pope County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher has been arrested for allegedly conducting a transaction involving methamphetamine.
To avoid a conflict of interest, Pope County Sheriff Tim Riley has asked the West Central Drug Task Force to conduct an investigation, which is underway with assistance from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
In a statement issued Monday, the West Central Drug and Violent Crime Task Force identified the dispatcher as Faline Yackel, 31 of Glenwood. She was arrested Friday and jailed in neighboring Todd County while a search warrant was executed at her home by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Minnesota State Patrol.
Yackel was formally charged in Pope County District Court on Monday on charges of first-degree sale and first-degree possession of methamphetamine.
According to the statement, she was fired from her position as a Pope County dispatcher on Monday, following her initial court appearance. She was a probationary employee who had worked in the Pope County 911 Dispatch Center for less than a year, the statement from the West Central Drug Task Force said.
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Riley, the Pope County Sheriff, issued a statement saying that methamphetamine is “a significant problem in this country that our office is working diligently to combat.”
“Drug-related activity within our own ranks cannot, and will not, be tolerated,” Riley said.
