Major crime ring busted in Mineral County

MINERAL COUNTY – A crime ring in Mineral County responsible for numerous felonies including theft and illegal drug production is in the process of being dismantled thanks to the efforts of multiple law enforcement agencies including the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office.

MCSO Sheriff Tom Bauer said multiple suspects were arrested over the past few weeks in connection with an operation responsible for stealing a wide array of vehicles from one of the Bakken oil drilling sites in North Dakota as well as producing methamphetamine in Mineral County.

Bauer said the meth lab was located when his department carried out a search warrant at a location in the west end of the county. He said the tip that equipment and vehicles were being stolen and transported across state lines initially came from a law enforcement department in North Dakota.

“We’ve collected so many vehicles,” Bauer said. “We’ve recovered ATVs, snowmobiles, motorcycles and others. There was thousands and thousands of dollars of stuff recovered. When we executed the search warrant, we found the meth lab.”

Bauer said at least six search warrants had been executed in the last few weeks and that he expected more arrests to follow. Due to the ongoing investigation, Bauer said more details would become available in the future.

He did say he hoped the dismantling of a significant crime ring in Mineral County would send a clear message to those who are or plan on committing similar crimes in the area.

“This had been going on for a long time,” Bauer said. “It turned out to be much bigger than we thought. It has turned out to be a large operation. It sends the message that we are going to be proactive. We are going to go after every tip we get. We are not going to tolerate this kind of thing. We want to clean up the drugs because that always leads to more crime.”

Bauer said the Missoula County…… was brought in to clean up the meth lab.