911 Medical Call Leads to Felony Conviction For Byron Man

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Byron man has admitted to a felony charge stemming from an investigation that began with the response by local authorities to a 911 call concerning a medical emergency.

Court documents say an Olmsted County Sheriff's Deputy was among the emergency responders who went to a home near Byron on the morning of March 12, 2022 after dispatch received a 911 report of a person having a bad reaction to drugs. The criminal complaint says Mayo Clinic Ambulance also responded to the residence and began treating 36-year-old Edwin Stevens, who had ingested methamphetamine, heroin, and mushrooms.

The charges say the deputy, while he was in the home, spotted a number of power tools that appeared to match the description of equipment reported stolen from a construction site in Stewartville. The deputy photographed the tools and then learned that a woman in the residence was wanted on an active arrest warrant issued by authorities in Chisago County.

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The court documents say the woman notified the deputy that she had access to enough cash to cover her bail locked in a gun safe in the home's bedroom. She was taken into custody when she also told the deputies at the scene that they might find firearms and drugs with the cash in the safe.

A search warrant was obtained, and investigators learned the tools inside the home had been taken from a hospital where Stevens had worked as a subcontractor. The court document says he denied stealing the tools and other equipment, including a trailer worth over $7000.

Stevens was charged with seven felony counts of drug possession, along with a felony count of receiving stolen property, and a gross misdemeanor charge of illegal possession of a firearm by a drug user. The criminal complaint notes that, in addition to the drugs and stolen property found at the residence, investigators also seized 10 firearms and the two baggies containing ammunition.

On Friday, Stevens entered guilty pleas to one of the felony drug charges and the gross misdemeanor weapons violation. He is scheduled to be sentenced in early June.

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