Burnsville Man Charged with Selling Cocaine to Informant

A Burnsville man is facing serious drug charges after police say he sold various quantities of cocaine to a confidential informant beginning in May.

Pedro Eduardo Garcia Solano, 23, is charged with first-degree drug sales, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

According to the criminal complaint, members of the Dakota County Drug Task Force met with a confidential informant on May 3 and made arrangements for the informant to purchase an “8-ball” of cocaine – 3.5 grams – from Solano.

The agents followed the informant to a prearranged location in Burnsville and watched him get out of his car, walk between some garages and meet Solano, who sold him the cocaine, according to the complaint.

The cocaine weighed 3.49 grams.

On July 13, the informant again made arrangements to buy cocaine from Solano, and task force agents again followed him to a Burnsville location. Solano showed up on a bicycle, got into the back seat of the informant’s car and sold him a quarter-ounce of cocaine, the complaint charges.

Again, on July 18, arrangements were made for the informant to buy cocaine from Solano, and again, the two arranged to meet in Burnsville, according to the complaint. When Solano approached the informant’s car, task force agents arrived and arrested Solano.

Agents found a plastic bag containing cocaine on the front passenger seat of the informant’s car and another plastic bag of cocaine that Solano had spit out of his mouth, the complaint says. One bag contained 13.92 grams of cocaine and the other .61 grams.

Solano remains in the Dakota County Jail on a $125,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled Aug. 7 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.