Charges: I-35 Standoff Suspect’s Car Contained 44 Pounds of Meth

Faribault, MN (KROC-AM News) - Authorities say the man responsible for an hours-long shutdown of I-35 just south of Faribault on Sunday was the target of a narcotics investigation conducted by the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office and the Southeast Minnesota Violent Crime Enforcement Team.

41-year-old Donald Ray Sanderson of Minneapolis was formally arraigned today in Rice County Court on a list of charges associated with the armed standoff and the drawing investigation. He is currently jailed with his bail set at $1 million.

According to the criminal complaint, investigators were aware that Sanderson was returning to Minnesota from California and initiated a traffic stop on I-35 in Steele County that included deploying stop sticks. The court document says Sanderson initially pulled over and a 24-year-old woman exited the vehicle before he continued traveling north on the freeway.

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The criminal complaint says the woman told law enforcement officers Sanderson had a gun with him in the car.

Eventually, Sanderson was forced to stop in the northbound lanes of I-35 on the south edge of Faribault due to the damage inflicted to his vehicle by the stop sticks. The charges against him state that he exited the vehicle holding a gun, and after an officer ordered him to drop the weapon, he fired a shot into the ground.

The Rice County Sheriff's Office reported that Sanderson continued to ignore the man's to drop the weapon and the decision was made to close down the freeway shortly after 3 PM. The standoff continued until around 7 PM, when Sanderson allegedly attempted to shoot down a drone and then attempted to shoot himself, but lost his firearm and ran into an adjacent farm field.

The complaint says a K-9 brought to the scene by Apple Valley police was then deployed and was able to subdue Sanderson in the field before he was taken into custody.

Following his arrest, investigators executed a search warrant on his vehicle, and according to the charges, discovered large quantities of drugs. The court document says 17 packages containing 44 pounds of methamphetamine were located in the vehicle. The search also uncovered more than 200 M30 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, 50 pills of a psychotropic prescription medication, a variety of items associated with drug sales, and multiple cell phones.

Sanderson is charged with two counts of first-degree drug sales, two counts of first-degree drug possession and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. His criminal history includes a 2021 conviction in Waseca County on a felony count of terroristic threats that resulted in a 21 month prison sentence.