Minneapolis firefighter from Coon Rapids charged in drug case

A Minneapolis firefighter set to go on trial next month for allegedly selling meth out of his Coon Rapids home has now been charged with selling dope from his fire station.

Lawrence Anthony Wajda, 42 and a 20-year veteran of the Minneapolis Fire Department, was taken into custody during a search Wednesday, March 28, at Fire Station 19. Police said they got a warrant to search the station based on information from a confidential informant.

A woman who was at the station at the time, Autumn Marie Ronning, 33, of Foreston, was also taken into custody and she, too, was charged Wednesday by Hennepin County prosecutors.

Wajda is charged with fifth-degree drug possession, a felony. He's being held in the Hennepin County Adult Detention Facility with bail set at $10,000.

Ronning is also being held, and Anoka and Ramsey counties have warrants out for her arrest in drug-related cases.

The criminal complaint against Wajda says that when police searched him at the fire station, on the University of Minnesota campus, they found 0.5 gram (0.017 ounce) of methamphetamine. When they searched his sleeping area, they found a bag with a single pill they later determined was 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, more commonly known as Ecstasy.

Ronning told officers the bag was hers, the complaint says. When she was searched at the jail, a deputy recovered a bag containing 0.2 gram (0.007 ounce) of meth, as well as eight Suboxone bills, according to the allegation.

Suboxone

Ronning was charged with three counts of fifth-degree drug possession.

After the two were taken into custody, Minneapolis Fire Chief John Fruetel said he was "deeply concerned and disappointed" over the accusations. He said "the actions of a single individual can cast a shadow on the entire department."

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Minneapolis firefighter from Coon Rapids charged in drug case