2 Charged with Selling Heroin from Burnsville Hotel Room

A Burnsville man and a Savage man have been charged with felony drug possession after police say they were caught selling heroin from a Burnsville hotel room.

Rolando Demetrio Ruiz, 21, of Burnsville and Zachary Michael Hirsch, 21, of Savage are charged with fifth-degree drug possession, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaints, members of the Dakota County Drug Task Force received information from three different people that Ruiz was selling drugs from the hotel room, and set up a controlled drug buy.

An informant placed a recorded call to Ruiz and made arrangements for the sale on June 11, according to the complaint. Ruiz told the caller that he would send out his friend – later identified as Hirsch – with the heroin, the complaint charges.

Task force members watched Hirsch leave the hotel, approach the informant’s car and hand over .8 grams of heroin for $100. The informant was also wearing a recording device.

Ruiz and Hirsch, still being watched by task force members, went back inside the hotel after the sale.

Police sought a search warrant for the hotel room, but when they arrived on June 12, they found that Ruiz and Hirsch were no longer staying there. They found Ruiz’s car at Burnsville Center and waited until Ruiz and Hirsch came out of the mall together, then arrested the men.

Officers searched Ruiz and found a cell phone, a razor blade in the bill of his cap, $807 in cash and two plastic bags of heroin weighing 3.2 grams and 1.6 grams, according to the complaint. They searched Ruiz’s car and found a roll of aluminum foil, a synthetic urine test kit, a digital scale and other drug paraphernalia.

Ruiz admitted to officers that he used heroin, but denied selling it, according to the complaint.

Police searched Hirsch and found a device used for smoking heroin in his pants pocket, the complaint says. Hirsch admitted to buying heroin from Ruiz, and told police that Ruiz had paid him to rent the hotel room in his name.

Both Ruiz and Hirsch are free on bond.