• News tips, submissions
• Questions, comments
• Contact webmaster

• Hudson men charged in post office pot bust
• Hudson -- Wiegand convicted in armored car robbery

By Meg Heaton

mheaton@rivertowns.net

Two Hudson men have been charged with felony possession of marijuana with intent to deliver following their arrest at the Hudson post office Sept. 11.

Matthew John Marich, 29, 74 Crown Pointe Curve, and Alexander John Anderson, 29, 1400 Namekagon St., No. 205, were named in charges filed on Tuesday by the District Attorney's office.

According to the complaint, Hudson police arrested the two in the parking lot of the Hudson post office, 808 Heggen St., just after they picked up two packages, each containing three pounds of marijuana.

According to the complaint, both men agreed to answer some questions from investigators at the time of their arrest. Marich, who has a medical condition and was in a wheelchair at the time of the arrest, allegedly told police that he was a casual user of marijuana and used it to control pain. He said it was not unusual for him to receive packages by mail but said he did not know that the packages in question contained marijuana.

Anderson said that Marich contacted him and asked him to go with him to pick up the packages. He told police that as he placed the packages into his vehicle, he said to Marich, "This smells a little funny. I'm feeling a little paranoid."

In the complaint Anderson said he has smoked marijuana with Marich in the past and that he was aware that Marich gets his marijuana through the mail.

In the complaint Anderson also admitted to buying marijuana from Marich multiple times before the arrest. He told police where Marich kept the marijuana in his residence.

The same day as the arrest, police got a search warrant and found several containers of marijuana, a digital scale and numerous marijuana pipes in a safe in Marich's residence.

Anderson had worked as a caregiver for Marich at one time and said picking up packages for him was part of the job when he was employed by him.

The initial appearance of the two men in St. Croix County Criminal Court is scheduled for Jan. 14, 2010. The charge of possession with intent to deliver carries with it a fine of up to $25,000 or imprisonment of up to 12 ½ years or both. The second charge of dealer possession of a controlled substance - party to a crime can result in a $10,000 fine and prison time of up to six years or both.

A former Hudson man was convicted of armed robbery and arson Monday in connection with an armored car heist six years ago.

Zachary Ryan Wiegand, 29, pleaded guilty to armed robbery as party to a crime and arson to property other than a building Monday in a plea agreement that cancelled out a five-day trial scheduled for this week.

Judge Eric J. Lundell set a sentencing hearing for Friday. Wiegand was charged in connection with a May 29, 2003, hold-up of an American Security armored car in the parking lot of Citizens State Bank on Crest View Drive in Hudson.

The complaint said Wiegand set fire to the mini-van he allegedly used at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Hudson. The van was reported stolen in Minnesota and involved in a car-jacking and shooting the night before the armored car incident. Washington County (Minn.) officers investigated the incident in Lake Elmo where a 42-year-old woman was wounded four times. Another woman's 1995 Dodge Caravan was hijacked after the shooting,

A police investigation discovered the 9mm Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol used in the woman's shooting was recovered in the arrest of a man in Minneapolis on May 5, 2008. The gun was traced back to Wiegand when he purchased at the Outpost in Hudson on May 13, 2003.

On Oct. 7, Wiegand was arrested on a Minnesota felony warrant. The complaint said he admitted to planning the robbery and theft of a vehicle to use for the crime. He said his wife drove him back to Minnesota after the van was burned and was an unwilling participant in depositing money in various banks.

Wiegand's wife, Debra Ann Wiegand, 29, Hudson, was charged with armed robbery and receiving stolen goods for allegedly aiding her husband in the incident. She is scheduled for a status conference Nov. 24.

A police report said $235,000 was taken in the hold-up.