Charges were dropped against a St. Paul man accused of stealing a Cadillac to pay off a drug debt.
The Ramsey County attorney’s office dismissed the case against Frankie Edward Adams last week, according to court records.
“After the judge ruled in favor of the defense to suppress the firearm evidence in our case, we lacked the underlying probable cause to continue the case,” a spokesman for the county attorney’s office said of the decision. “Without the evidence of a firearm we cannot prove the illegal possession of a firearm due to a past felony conviction.”
Adams, 42, was charged last summer with illegal possession of a firearm due to past felony convictions in connection to an alleged Aug. 8 incident.
A man told police he was working on a white Cadillac for his sister when Adams arrived in a brown Chevy Ventura van, threatened him with a semi-automatic handgun, chased him, got into the car and drove off, according to the criminal complaint.
He said he suspected Adams was motivated by the $2,000 he owed him for marijuana, charges said.
Adams was arrested after police found him asleep in a parked school bus north of the Albemarle Street and Milford Street intersection. He was wearing the same clothes described by the alleged witness and a brown Chevy Ventura van was parked nearby, the complaint said.
In the rear of the bus, police found a black handgun with its serial numbers filed off. Two other handguns also were located in the bus.
Adams told police that neighborhood kids brought him the handgun with the obliterated serial number to look at. He said he touched the gun while looking at it, but gave it back to the kids and advised them to get rid of it. He said he didn’t touch the other guns and that his DNA and fingerprints wouldn’t be on them, according to the complaint.
He also denied taking the man’s Cadillac.