A March investigation of drug traffic out of the Palace Bar could have been bigger, bringing in more dealers and more cocaine, but investigators say the operation was still a success.

Tuesday, April 03, 2001

A March investigation of drug traffic out of the Palace Bar could have been bigger, bringing in more dealers and more cocaine, but investigators say the operation was still a success.

&uot;We’ve got a lot of people afraid they might be arrested next, that there might be people in jail talking about them,&uot; said South Central Drug Investigation Unit Detective Mark Harig.

The operation brought in relatively small amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine but enabled officers to arrest a number of competing mid-level drug dealers working out of the bar, Harig said.

&uot;There’s a lot of it in there but that group really has control of the Palace Bar,&uot; he said. &uot;They’ll even go up to people they don’t know to sell them drugs.&uot;

Investigators suspected several more bar patrons of dealing drugs, but ended the operation to avoid making those already implicated suspicious, Harig said.

Harig worked 100 hours on the sweep in March. It was the largest operation since Albert Lea Police Detective Gene Arnold’s retirement from the drug task force, Harig said.

Six people have been charged with controlled substance crimes as a result of the operation, and two more could be charged today, said Assistant County Attorney David Walker.

&uot;It is a nice bust and it got us into the bar,&uot; Harig said. &uot;Maybe it will get the bar to slow down and pay attention to what’s going on in there.&uot;

Bar owners were not implicated in the investigation, but law enforcement could refer the case to the county attorney’s office to suspend their liquor license because of drug activity, Harig said.

Bar owners were not aware of the investigation and weren’t approached by police for help, said Shirley Hegwood, who bought the bar in December.

Hegwood told police she would help them clean up the bar when they responded to a bomb threat New Years Eve, she said.

&uot;At that time we told (police) we would give them any cooperation they heeded to clean up the drugs,&uot; she said.

The arrest of several customers for allegedly dealing drugs out of the bar has damaged the Palace’s reputation, Hegwood said.

&uot;It’s a sad situation, but if it’s going to get the drugs out of town, that’s fine, we’ll survive,&uot; Hegwood said.