Workers Find Marijuana In Clothes Donated To Maplewood Store
MAPLEWOOD, Minn. (WCCO) -- Maplewood police say they are close to figuring out who left a large stash of marijuana inside a bag of used children's clothes.
The drugs were discovered by an employee of Once Upon A Child.
Friday night Maplewood police shared a picture of the stash on Twitter and Facebook, joking that the person should go to the police department to be reunited with the drugs.
WCCO's Angela Davis spoke with the police chief about the investigation.
A store employee was sorting through dropped off items at the Maplewood store, trying to determine what should be resold, returned or donated to charity. That's when the worker came across illegal drugs.
"As they did that they found a large Ziploc bag in one of these bags of clothing," said Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell.
From the amount of marijuana, to the way it was packaged, police say it's clear this was not someone's private stash.
"This is the way it would be packaged for distribution typically," the chief said.
A few hours later a Maplewood police officer tweeted a picture of the perfectly measured bags and then posted a photo on the department's Facebook page.
That post has been shared more than 5,300 times.
"When we use social media it does quickly start to give us a whole bunch of information. Sometimes it is not super helpful. But it allows us to sort through and ultimately find out who's responsible," he said.
In this case, security cameras inside Once Upon A Child are also a big help.
And then there's the form the person filled out before leaving the store.
When you bring in your used items to Once Upon A Child, you're required to fill out a form. It asks for your name, address and phone number.
"We do have a name that is associated. We don't know if that is an accurate name or not. It's something investigators will be following up with starting today," the chief said.
The Maplewood police chief says the person who owns the marijuana could be charged with possession and intent to distribute, because of the way the marijuana was packaged. A prosecutor will decide the level of the charge.
And those 60 little bags -- they are valued at $10 to $40 each, depending on the quality of the marijuana.
