2 Arrested in SW Minneapolis After Big Heroin Bust

Two men have been charged with felony drug sales after police say they found more than 200 grams of heroin at an apartment in Southwest Minneapolis last week.

Darren Lynn DeGraffinreed, 22, of Chicago and Anthony Morrison, 33, of Minneapolis are each charged with first-degree heroin sales, a felony with a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. They are also charged with escape from custody, a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine, and DeGraffinreed faces an additional gross misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree assault of a peace officer.

According to the criminal complaints, signed by Hennepin County Sheriff’s Deputy Cory McLouden, authorities executed a search warrant at Morrison’s apartment in the 300 block of West 31st Street on Sept. 21 after learning that heroin being sold throughout south Minneapolis was being stored there.

Deputies learned that Morrison used “runners” to sell heroin from the apartment, and they set up surveillance in the area, the complaints say.

Officers saw DeGraffinreed leave the apartment and drive to West 32nd Street and Pleasant Avenue, where he met a woman and appeared to sell her drugs, according to the complaints. DeGraffinreed then returned to the apartment on West 31st Street.

At about 10 a.m., Morrison and DeGraffinreed left the apartment in a car. Deputies followed and arrested them, then searched the apartment, where they found a scale, $12,100 in cash and 200.73 grams of heroin, according to the complaints. One gram of heroin is roughly equivalent to one dose.

While DeGraffinreed was being taken to jail, he freed his left arm from the handcuffs. The deputy driving the squad car stopped and tried to restrain him, but DeGraffinreed fought with him and opened the passenger door, the complaints say.

DeGraffinreed punched the deputy several times in the arm and upper shoulder, then fled west on 31st Street, according to the complaints. The deputy pursued him and caught him a block and a half away.

When another deputy arrived at the police station, a deputy stopped to adjust Morrison’s handcuffs, and Morrison fled from the back of the squad car, running across West 31st Street into the path of an oncoming car, the complaints say. Deputies caught him shortly afterward.

Both men remain in the Hennepin County Jail on separate $75,000 bonds. They are scheduled to make first appearances on the charges against them Sept. 25 in Hennepin County District Court.