6 days Ago By Dale Morin
WILLMAR — A Willmar man is accused of possessing drugs and ammunition, and fleeing police after a Nov. 27 pursuit led officers to his residence. Jaime Cisneros Pizarro Jr.
, 32, is charged with five different felony counts including two charges of fifth-degree drug possession, possession of ammunition after being convicted of a crime of violence, storing drug paraphernalia in the presence of children, and fleeing police in a motor vehicle. Cisneros Pizarro made his first appearance Dec. 3 and was released from custody after posting a $5,000 bond for release with conditions that include not leaving the state, staying in contact with his attorney and probation and not using drugs or firearms.
Bail without conditions was set at $100,000. His next court appearance is scheduled Jan. 28.
The criminal complaint describes a frenetic chase as agents with the CEE-VI Drug and Gang Task Force and Willmar police attempted to serve a search warrant on Cisneros Pizarro on Nov. 27. According to the criminal complaint, the search warrant pertained to Cisneros Pizarro and a vehicle he was known to drive, a brown Ford Explorer.
Officers were following the vehicle in the area north of Civic Center Drive Northeast on U.S. Highway 71 around 5:16 p.
m. Nov. 27.
According to the complaint, law enforcement vehicles were both in front of and behind the SUV in order to prevent Cisneros Pizarro from escaping. Officers activated their lights in an attempt to stop the vehicle. Almost immediately, Cisneros Pizarro pulled his vehicle to the right and began accelerating, jumping a curb and pulling around one squad vehicle, according to the complaint.
Officers in marked police cars then began the pursuit while all the other agents immediately turned on lights in their unmarked cars. According to the complaint, the SUV then began fleeing at speeds around 80 mph and attempted to make a U-turn along U.S.
Highway 71 at the J-turn intersection with 26th Avenue Northeast, attempting to travel southbound. An officer used a pursuit intervention technique, or PIT maneuver, briefly spinning the vehicle before it drove southbound. As officers continued the pursuit, one radioed to another that the driver had thrown an item out of a window in an area between the J-turn and Civic Center Drive Northeast.
The Explorer continued weaving around traffic around 90 mph at Civic Center Drive, according to the complaint. The vehicle even went onto the right shoulder near the Robbins Island boat launch area to avoid a collision with another vehicle. The vehicle slowed down near the intersection with Ella Avenue before hitting the First Street Bridge, but was still driving fast and dangerously, going over center lines and driving the wrong way in traffic.
Police watched the vehicle run a red light, and make a left turn from First Street to Litchfield Avenue. The SUV drove on the sidewalk before pulling into the driveway of a residence in the 100 block of Litchfield Avenue Southeast. The suspect then got out of the vehicle, fleeing on foot to the backyard area of the residence.
An officer immediately began pursuing the suspect on foot and was able to take him into custody with the assistance of other officers who responded to the pursuit. Cisneros Pizarro was taken into custody around 5:20 p.m.
that evening outside the west entrance to the residence. The arrest concluded a short but chaotic chase that lasted for about 2.9 miles through Willmar.
According to the complaint, officers seized 0.09 grams of a powdery substance found inside a folded $20 bill on Cisneros Pizarro. The substance field-tested positive for the presence of cocaine.
Additional drug paraphernalia was also found in the vehicle. Officers also found a baggie in the median of U.S.
Highway 71 that contained 3.13 grams of a powdery substance, which field-tested positive for cocaine. After obtaining a search warrant, agents found a total of 2.
65 grams of a crystalline substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine, located throughout the residence, including 0.3 grams found in a zippered pouch behind a TV stand in an upstairs bedroom where agents had located children. Agents also found 46 rounds of 9mm ammunition on the main floor along with a single 20-gauge shotgun shell and .
22-caliber round in the basement of the home. According to the complaint, Cisneros Pizarro agreed to speak with officers at the Kandiyohi County Jail. He told officers that he was driving and on the phone when he saw traffic slowing down and moved over.
He then saw lights and “took off.” He agreed with agents that paraphernalia would have been found at the house and that the basement was his “hangout spot.” He stated the shotgun shell and rifle round found at the residence belonged to another male.
When asked about the 9mm rounds, he told police the ammunition belonged to another family member. According to the complaint, Cisneros Pizarro has a history of previous drug offenses. He was sentenced in July 2022 to serve 21 months in prison for theft by swindle after a planned drug deal failed to take place.
A public criminal history search shows Cisnero Pizarro was previously convicted of second-degree drug sale in 2018 in Sherburne County and fourth-degree drug sale in Kandiyohi County in 2015..
