Beltrami County Traffic Stop Leads to Drug Charges, Bolstering Enforcement Efforts

A traffic stop in Beltrami County produced drug charges against an individual this week, the latest enforcement action in a county the White House has formally identified as one of the most intense drug trafficking zones in Minnesota.

The stop contributes to a pattern of highway interdiction that has defined narcotics enforcement here for years. The Paul Bunyan Drug Task Force, a 12-officer unit drawing personnel from 10 agencies across the region, has long relied on traffic stops as a primary tool. In December 2022, PBDTF agents and Beltrami County deputies pulled over a vehicle on US Highway 71 South, executed a search warrant at the Beltrami County Law Enforcement Center, and arrested Kenneth Triplett, 35, on drug-related offenses. The corridor along US 71 has remained one of the task force's active interdiction zones.

The enforcement picture in Beltrami County has grown considerably more urgent since then. In September 2024, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy designated Beltrami County a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, making it the eighth Minnesota county to receive that federal classification. The designation, formally published in the Federal Register on October 28, 2024, placed Beltrami within the North Central HIDTA alongside counties across Minnesota and Wisconsin. U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith announced the accompanying federal funding.

The numbers behind the designation are stark: over the last decade, the county has seen a 12,500% increase in methamphetamine seizures and a 28,500% increase in opioid seizures, including heroin and fentanyl. Beltrami County's overdose rate runs more than twice the state and national averages.

Sheriff Jason Riggs said the data gave his department pause. "When we first looked at those numbers we had, we were taken aback," he said. Sheriff's Captain Joe Kleszyk, who presented the HIDTA designation to the Beltrami County Board of Commissioners, framed it bluntly: "It really shows everybody we have a problem here. And right now, the White House itself has said Beltrami County has a problem. They need resources."

Kleszyk has been clear about where those resources are aimed. "This is not going after people that are addicted," he said. "This money, and really the narcotics investigators in this area are going after those that are coming to our area to prey on our community and poison our community."

As of January 2025, Kleszyk and PBDTF commander David Hart were leading the county's planning effort for deploying the new federal HIDTA aid. The Beltrami County Sheriff's Office patrols more than 3,000 square miles and serves over 47,000 residents, with the PBDTF serving as the primary coordinating body for felony-level drug investigations across the county.

Anyone seeking help with substance use in the Beltrami County area can contact the county's human services department at 218-333-8300, or reach the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357, available around the clock at no cost.