DICKINSON, N.D. (KXNET) — Dickinson Police have arrested four individuals and seized a significant amount of meth in an apartment across the street from an elementary school in Dickinson on Sunday afternoon.

According to the Dickinson Police Department, officers began a narcotics investigation this weekend in conjunction with the Southwest Narcotics Task Force. A search warrant for an apartment located on 29th Street West led to officers converging on the area on March 26th to find the apartments’ tenant, 42-year-old Dickinson man Aaron Lawrence Baker, driving away before being stopped by patrol units.

A SWAT team then continued to the apartment when the upstairs neighbor, 33-year-old Dickinson woman Janae Tamera Daye-Osman, began stomping on the floor to alert those in the apartment that police were coming.

After a forced entry around 5:40 p.m., the SWAT team detained two individuals in the apartment — 45-year-old Dickinson man Demetrice Lashawn Askew and 44-year-old Detroit man Willie Shaton McCaulley.

According to police, the two are suspected of allegedly destroying narcotic evidence by flushing it down a toilet before the SWAT team made their entry.

However, officers searching the apartment found the following items:

  • 1 (one) pound of methamphetamine
  • 66 grams of cocaine
  • 15 grams of marijuana
  • 9 fentanyl pills
  • $18,000 in cash
  • 1 (one) stolen firearm
(Photos Courtesy: Dickinson Police Department)

Aaron Lawrence Baker was arrested for the following charges:

  • Possession of a Controlled Substance w/Intent to Deliver (Class B Felony)
  • Possession of Stolen Property, Prohibited Possession of a Firearm (Class C Felony)
  • Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (Class C Felony)
  • Maintaining a Dwelling for Using Controlled Substance (Class C Felony)

Demetrice Lashawn Askew and Willie Shaton McCaulley were arrested for the charges listed below:

  • Possession of a Controlled Substance w/Intent to Deliver (Class B Felony)
  • Tampering with Physical Evidence (Class C Felony)

Finally, Janae Tamera Daye-Osman was arrested for Hindering Law Enforcement (Class C Felony).

(Photo Courtesy: Dickinson Police Department)

Police also confirmed that the location was directly across the street from Prairie Rose Elementary.

The Dickinson Police Department thanked the North Dakota Bureau of Investigations, Southwest Narcotics Task Force, Dickinson Ambulance Service, Stark County State’s Attorney’s Office, and the Stark County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance in the investigation.