By Brandi Makuski

A 39-year-old Plover man is being held on a $50,000 cash bond for allegedly selling drugs and operating a drug house.

Alex Melendez was arrested last month for his involvement in a string of drug sales to an undercover officer in Plover.

According to the criminal complaint, a Plover narcotics officer, working as a part of the Central Wis. Drug Task Force, oversaw more than $500 of controlled buys for meth and marijuana at a residence on Rosalie Parkway on Aug. 9 and 11; then another $300 in drug purchases from Melendez’s residence on the 2500 block of Locust Drive. All the drug purchases were made by an undercover police officers.

While detectives were building a larger case against Melendez, he and another man were stopped by a Utah State Trooper on Aug. 31 while travelling east on I-80 from California to Utah. A search of the vehicle, which belonged to Melendez, uncovered two pounds each of marijuana and methamphetamine.

It was not immediately known if Melendez and his cohort were taken into custody by Utah police at that time, or under what circumstances they were later released.

Melendez was later a passenger in a vehicle stopped by Plover police as it left a Harding Ave. hotel on Sept. 15. The driver had active warrants issued by the Wis. Rapids Police Dept., which prompted police to search the vehicle. Inside the car police found a digital scale, pipes used for smoking drugs, more than $300 in cash and a bag containing about three grams of meth.

Later that day, detectives also searched Melendez’s Locust Dr. residence, where they found drug paraphernalia and numerous bags containing various forms of meth, according to the complaint.

Melendez faces more than 50 years in prison if convicted of all the charges against him. He returns to court for a pre-trial conference on Nov. 7.

UPDATE: Attached to Melendez’s criminal complaint was a news article from The Redwood Times, located in Humboldt Co., Cali., about law enforcement there finding the body of 26-year-old Joshua Deyo of Stevens Point, who died from blunt force trauma to the back of his head. Deyo’s body was found in the Eel River near Garberville, Cali. on Aug. 30. According to Clerk of Courts Trish Baker, the story was attached accidentally, and “the two have nothing to do with one another. It’s totally our fault, and we apologize.”