{"id":21025,"date":"2026-03-03T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=21025"},"modified":"2026-03-01T07:11:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T13:11:50","slug":"beltrami-county-dwi-stop-with-baby-drug-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/beltrami-county-dwi-stop-with-baby-drug-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Beltrami County: DWI Stop With Baby, Drug Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beltrami County<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A criminal complaint says a Highway 2 traffic stop led to three charges.<\/p>\n

The driver was identified as Shayla Lee French<\/strong>, born September 20, 1999. Court records list her address in Ponemah, Minnesota.<\/p>\n

The complaint says a baby was in a car seat during the stop. An adult passenger, Dalton Lee Defoe<\/strong>, born February 5, 2002, was also in the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Traffic stop on Highway 2<\/h2>\n

According to the complaint, a deputy saw a suspended object near the windshield. The stop happened at about 5:29 p.m. on February 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

The complaint says the deputy noticed red, glassy eyes. The deputy also confirmed French\u2019s driver\u2019s license was revoked.<\/p>\n

Court records say French was asked to exit the vehicle. The complaint says she reported taking gabapentin, 100 milligrams, three times daily.<\/p>\n

The complaint also says French admitted to marijuana use. The deputy then did field sobriety testing, according to the filing.<\/p>\n

The deputy reported poor eye tracking in both eyes. The complaint also describes trouble following directions and hand movements.<\/p>\n

Later, French said she used methamphetamine within three days, the complaint says. Investigators then sought a warrant for blood or urine testing.<\/p>\n

French chose to provide a urine sample, according to the complaint. The filing says the sample was to be sent to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for testing.<\/p>\n

Charges filed in the district court<\/h2>\n

The case was filed in Beltrami County District Court. The court file number listed is 04-CR-26-491<\/strong>. The prosecutor’s file number listed is 0040091486<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

French is charged with a gross misdemeanor, second-degree DWI<\/strong>. The complaint alleges a Schedule I or II drug, or its metabolite, was in her body.<\/p>\n

French is also charged with gross misdemeanor child endangerment<\/strong>. The complaint alleges a child was placed in a situation likely to cause serious harm.<\/p>\n

A third count alleges driving after revocation<\/strong>. That count is listed as a misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

\"Shayla
Shayla Lee French<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Statutes and possible penalties<\/h2>\n

Court records list up to 364 days in jail for each gross misdemeanor count. Records also list up to a $3,000 fine for each gross misdemeanor count.<\/p>\n

The driving after revocation count lists up to 90 days in jail. It also lists up to a $1,000 fine.<\/p>\n

You can read the cited laws here:
\nMinnesota Statute 169A.20<\/a>,
\nMinnesota Statute 169A.25<\/a>,
\nMinnesota Statute 609.378<\/a>,
\nand Minnesota Statute 171.24<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More on the agency handling lab work is available here:\u00a0Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Record summary and next steps<\/h2>\n

The complaint summary lists prior convictions tied to French\u2019s record. It lists DWI convictions from 2021 in Beltrami County and Crow Wing County.<\/p>\n

It also lists a 2025 gross misdemeanor conviction for giving a false name. Those entries are part of the complaint summary.<\/p>\n

A criminal complaint contains allegations. French is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beltrami County (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A criminal complaint says a Highway 2 traffic stop led to three charges. The driver was identified as Shayla Lee French, born September 20, 1999. Court records list her address in Ponemah, Minnesota. The complaint says a baby was in a car seat during the stop. An adult passenger, Dalton Lee… Continue reading Beltrami County: DWI Stop With Baby, Drug Claim<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[6180,1223,1212,14394,1239,3083,768,772,14393,1322,1191,5285,883,8945,818,3328,8842,9996,10790,11644,14392,1222,786,93],"class_list":["post-21025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-baby","tag-beltrami","tag-beltrami-county","tag-bemidji-area","tag-child-endangerment","tag-claim","tag-county","tag-crime","tag-dalton-lee-defoe","tag-driving-after-revocation","tag-drug","tag-drug-dwi","tag-dwi","tag-highway-2","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-bca","tag-minnesota-statute-169a-20","tag-minnesota-statute-169a-25","tag-minnesota-statute-171-24","tag-minnesota-statute-609-378","tag-shayla-lee-french","tag-stop","tag-trf-news","tag-with","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21028,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21025\/revisions\/21028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}