Springfield, Ill. – Rodger A. Heaton, United States Attorney for the Central District of Illinois, announced that a federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging Anthony N. Minor, age 32, of 701 South Mattis Avenue, Champaign, Illinois, with one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine on December 18, 2006.

Minor was arrested on December 18, 2006, and charged in a federal criminal complaint. According to the affidavit filed in support of the complaint, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on December 18, 2006, at a Champaign storage facility determined to be rented by Minor. Inside the unit, officers located approximately one kilogram of powder cocaine under some items inside the trunk of a vehicle parked inside the storage unit. Later on December 18, 2006, officers executed a search warrant at Minor’s residence, where officers recovered approximately $14,139 in U.S. currency in a safe in a bedroom closet and one night stand. Officers also found receipts for the rental of the storage unit as well as items used to assist in packaging large quantities of cocaine, including a digital scale with white powder residue, baggies, rubber gloves and a surgical-type dust mask.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Champaign Police Departments are conducting the case investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller.

On December 19, 2006, U.S. Magistrate Judge David G. Bernthal ordered Minor be detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial. If convicted, Minor faces a statutory mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison to life imprisonment.

Members of the public are reminded that an indictment is merely an accusation; the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.