White powder wasn't cocaine; man freed after 2 months in jail
Last update: October 6, 2008 - 12:00 AM
LAKE CRYSTAL, MINN. - A Shakopee man who spent two months in jail after being found with white powder has been cleared after tests showed the powder was deodorant, not cocaine.
Cornelius F. Salonis, 31, was arrested Aug. 3 on suspicion of drunken driving and jailed after police said they found cocaine in his car.
Salonis' attorney blames a faulty field test for the false positive result. Richard Hillesheim says a state crime lab concluded that the powder was deodorant.
Last week, prosecutors dismissed the felony drug charges and allowed Salonis to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving.
He was sentenced to a year in jail. But the judge stayed nine months of the sentence and removed an additional month for good behavior.
So with the two months he already had served, Salonis was freed.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Last update: October 6, 2008 - 12:00 AM
LAKE CRYSTAL, MINN. - A Shakopee man who spent two months in jail after being found with white powder has been cleared after tests showed the powder was deodorant, not cocaine.
Cornelius F. Salonis, 31, was arrested Aug. 3 on suspicion of drunken driving and jailed after police said they found cocaine in his car.
Salonis' attorney blames a faulty field test for the false positive result. Richard Hillesheim says a state crime lab concluded that the powder was deodorant.
Last week, prosecutors dismissed the felony drug charges and allowed Salonis to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving.
He was sentenced to a year in jail. But the judge stayed nine months of the sentence and removed an additional month for good behavior.
So with the two months he already had served, Salonis was freed.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
