Richfield Police Arrest Habitual Offender with Large Amounts of Heroin, Cocaine

A Waseca man with more than a dozen failure-to-appear citations, and dozens more driving violations, is facing serious drug charges after police stopped him in Richfield and found large quantities of heroin and cocaine in his possession.

Thomas Rashaun Gibson, 30, is charged with two felonies: first-degree heroin possession, which has a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a $1 million fine, and second-degree cocaine possession, for which the maximum penalty is 40 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Gibson is also charged with obstructing the legal process, a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

A Richfield police officer on routine patrol Jan. 3 near Diagonal Boulevard and Cedar Avenue spotted a car driving slowly, according to the criminal complaint.

The officer recognized the driver as Gibson, whom he knew to have many driving violations. When he checked Gibson’s record, he found that his driver’s license had been revoked. The officer stopped Gibson and arrested him. He was taken to the Richfield police station.

Police learned that during an earlier, unrelated arrest in another county, Gibson was able to conceal drugs and bring them into the jail with him, according to the complaint. When Gibson overheard that, he became aggressive, reaching into the back of his pants and then running toward an officer and shoving him, the complaint charges.

Police put Gibson on the ground and tried to subdue him, but he continued to fight, trying to bite one of the officers, according to the complaint. During the struggle, officers found a round object at the back of Gibson’s pants; the object turned out to be a plastic bag containing two bindles of heroin, one large bindle of cocaine and 27 small bindles of cocaine. The heroin weighed 55.1 grams, and the cocaine weighed 15.1 grams, according to authorities.

Gibson’s criminal history includes 42 traffic-related convictions since 2008, ranging from speeding to driving without insurance to driving with a revoked license.

He was charged in August with selling heroin to an undercover informant in Northfield. That case is pending; a settlement conference is scheduled Jan. 16 in Rice County District Court. 

Gibson remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $100,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled Jan. 17 in Hennepin County District Court.

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