An Albert Lea woman charged with selling cocaine was arrested by Albert Lea Police for threatening a witness in her scheduled trial.

Tuesday, October 30, 2001

An Albert Lea woman charged with selling cocaine was arrested by Albert Lea Police for threatening a witness in her scheduled trial.

Rita Vanesa McGhee Lopez, 38, of 328 East Clark St., was arrested and charged with aggravated first-degree witness tampering last week.

According to the complaint, on Oct. 22, Lopez followed the witness from a residence on South Newton Avenue to Wal-Mart. In the parking lot Lopez allegedly blocked the witness and threatened her, saying, &uot;I’m going to pop you.&uot;

The witness told the investigator that she understood the threat to mean that Lopez would shoot her.

The witness cooperated with the South Central Drug Investigation Unit in a drug case that resulted in Lopez’s arrest. She was also scheduled to appear in court for testimony against Lopez.

On Oct. 5, the witness informed the police about a phone call from Lopez telling her she had some cocaine to sell. The police prepared photocopied cash and a micro-cassette recorder. Then the witness visited Lopez twice and purchased a total of about four grams of cocaine from her.

After being arrested and charged with three counts of cocaine sale, Lopez was bailed out for $50,000 on Oct. 11.

The alleged tampering happened just before the court hearing for the October cocaine case scheduled at 3:30 p.m. Lopez appeared in the court, according to the prosecutor.

Lopez was also charged with another cocaine sale in March and check forgery in May. She entered not-guilty pleas for all the charges.