Owatonna Man Busted For Drugs By ‘Mouth’-y Passenger

An Owatonna man is now facing drug charges after being found to have multiple grams of presumptive drugs in his vehicle. The Owatonna Police credit the bust to the man's passenger at the time, who was mouthing to the officer something that couldn't be discerned until the passenger was removed from the car.

According to Just The Facts, a weekly publication from the Owatonna Police Department, 43-year-old Andy Hiebert of Owatonna was charged with 2nd Degree Possession of Heroin and 3rd Degree Possession of a Narcotic other than Heroin, both felonies, after a traffic stop last Friday in Owatonna's downtown area.

Hiebert was initially stopped by the Owatonna Police Department for what it described in Just The Facts as an equipment violation. It was during the traffic stop that the Owatonna officer noticed the passenger gesturing and mouthing words. According to Just The Facts, "the officer had the passenger exit the vehicle and he told the officer there was a lot of s#!t in the vehicle, referring to drugs."

The officer then asked Hiebert about the drugs and he admitted to having "methamphetamine and heroin in the vehicle." Owatonna police then searched the vehicle and turned up what they called "presumptive" drugs.

The search yielded " 22.6 grams of presumptive meth, 22.6 grams of presumptive heroin, and .8 grams of presumptive Fentanyl."

Court records for Hiebert show he has a 2006 conviction of 1st-degree manufacturing Methamphetamine charge, and a 2014 5th degree felony conviction for Procure/Possess/Control Over a Controlled Substance.

Hiebert is still listed as being in the Steele County Jail according to the online jail roster.