{"id":44198,"date":"2026-08-20T14:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T19:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=44198"},"modified":"2026-08-15T20:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T01:45:10","slug":"white-earth-woman-faces-fentanyl-false-name-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/white-earth-woman-faces-fentanyl-false-name-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"White Earth Woman Faces Fentanyl, False Name Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

White Earth Woman Faces Fentanyl, False Name Charges<\/h2>\n

White Earth<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A White Earth woman faces two charges following a Becker County traffic stop.<\/p>\n

Rudy Nicole Mercado, 34, is charged with felony fifth-degree controlled substance possession.<\/p>\n

She also faces a gross misdemeanor charge for allegedly giving police another person’s name.<\/p>\n

The charges stem from an August 14, 2025, traffic stop on County Highway 34.<\/p>\n

Traffic Stop Leads To Arrest<\/h2>\n

A Becker County deputy stopped a vehicle after noticing a damaged passenger-side taillight.<\/p>\n

Mercado was riding as a passenger, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

Investigators say Mercado initially provided another person’s name and birth date.<\/p>\n

The deputy recognized Mercado from previous contacts, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Police later confirmed her identity using booking photographs and identifying tattoos.<\/p>\n

Authorities also learned that Mercado had outstanding warrants.<\/p>\n

She was arrested and transported to the Becker County Jail.<\/p>\n

The driver also had an outstanding warrant, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Police reported that the driver left the scene before field sobriety testing could begin.<\/p>\n

Officers searched the surrounding area but did not locate her at that time.<\/p>\n

Jail Search Allegedly Finds Fentanyl<\/h2>\n

Jail staff later searched Mercado’s belongings during the booking process.<\/p>\n

The complaint says staff found a folded paper packet inside Mercado’s purse.<\/p>\n

The packet contained a white powder-like substance, according to court records.<\/p>\n

Investigators collected the packet as evidence.<\/p>\n

A field test returned a presumptive positive result for fentanyl, prosecutors allege.<\/p>\n

The substance and packaging weighed approximately 0.28 grams.<\/p>\n

Two Charges Filed In Becker County<\/h2>\n

Mercado faces felony fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance containing fentanyl.<\/p>\n

The complaint lists a maximum sentence of five years in prison.<\/p>\n

The charge also carries a possible fine of up to $10,000.<\/p>\n

The false-name charge carries up to 364 days in jail.<\/p>\n

It also carries a possible fine of up to $3,000.<\/p>\n

The complaint also cites prior controlled substance convictions from 2022 and 2025.<\/p>\n

The case is filed as Becker County court file 03-CR-25-2435.<\/p>\n

Readers can review Minnesota Statute 152.025<\/a> for fifth-degree drug offenses.<\/p>\n

The false-name law appears under Minnesota Statute 609.506<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.<\/p>\n

Mercado is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A White Earth woman faces felony fentanyl possession and a false-name charge after jail staff allegedly found suspected fentanyl inside her purse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3252,"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":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_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":[15304,15567,15499,4180,6777,23187,23186],"class_list":["post-44198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-becker-county-court","tag-becker-county-crime-news","tag-false-name-charge","tag-fentanyl-possession","tag-minnesota-drug-charges","tag-rudy-nicole-mercado","tag-white-earth-minnesota-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44198","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=44198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44199,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44198\/revisions\/44199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}