Agents Find Meth In Brooklyn Center Dealer's Garbage: Feds

BROOKLYN CENTER, MN — A Brooklyn Center man was sentenced last week to 124 months in prison after he was convicted of methamphetamine trafficking.

Matthew Hines, 37, pleaded guilty on May 6, 2021, to conspiracy to distribute meth. His co-conspirator — Chue Xiong, 39, of St. Paul — was sentenced earlier this year to 156 months in prison.

In May 2020, authorities launched an investigation into Hines and Xiong, who worked together to distribute meth and send profits back to their supplier, investigators said.

On May 11, 2020, Xiong left Hines’s home with a brown bag in his hand, according to authorities.

At a traffic stop, agents searched Xiong’s car and found about 1.4 kilograms of meth inside the brown bag, 614 grams of meth in the driver’s side door pocket, and a 9mm handgun underneath the floor mat on the driver’s side, investigators said.

The next day, agents searched Hines’ garbage and found 419 grams of methamphetamine, according to authorities.

They also found 2.6 kilograms of methamphetamine in the back seat of Hines’s vehicle, $24,434 in cash, and several cell phones, investigators said.