Man accused of drug sale from Austin restaurant acquitted of six charges
Terry Heggs / Mower County Jail Roster
(ABC 6 News) – CORRECTION: An Albert Lea man accused of selling drugs from an Austin restaurant in January was acquitted of all charges by judge Jeffrey M. Kritzer.
Terry Izeal Heggs, 40, was accused of 1st-degree drug possession, fleeing a police officer, and violating a Domestic Abuse No-Contact Order dating back to the Jan. 13. arrest at Wing Bazaar.
Heggs appeared in Mower County Court for trial July 11-17. On July 17, Kritzer concluded that Mower County law enforcement and prosecution failed to implicate Heggs beyond reasonable doubt.
According to the Findings and Order acquitting Heggs, Mower County police cited a female witness in their investigation, who allegedly told Det. Mark Walski with APD that Heggs had provided her with drugs to sell to people in the area.
Austin police also alleged during trial that an informant conducted a controlled buy from the restaurant.
Austin police also claim they located nearly 60 grams of cocaine in and around the restaurant kitchen where Heggs worked.
However, according to court documents, neither alleged witness to the drug sales testified at Heggs’ trial.
Instead, the defense argued that the female witness could have possessed the drugs located in Wing Bazaar, instead of Heggs.
ABC 6 News previously spoke to Wing Bazaar owner Quinten Amos, after the Austin city council revoked the restaurant’s food license following Heggs’ arrest.
RELATED: Austin restaurant’s food license revoked after drug bust – ABC 6 News – kaaltv.com
Heggs’ defense also alleged that Amos could have possessed the drugs found in the restaurant, instead of Heggs.
The prosecution also failed to determine exactly who owns the land Wing Bazaar resided on, and Heggs’ defense pointed out that the owner of the real estate would also have had access to the building.
Crucially, court documents conclude that there was no direct evidence that Heggs had conducted any cocaine or fentanyl sales during the time of APD’s investigation.
Kritzer also concluded that Heggs was not guilty of fleeing police because of the length of time between law enforcement’s loud entry into the restaurant, and announcing themselves as police officers, according to court documents.
Heggs faces additional charges in Mower County Court, and is still held in Mower County Jail pending those trials.
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Heggs is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing Aug. 18, followed by a jury trial Aug. 28 on 2021 charges of drive-by shooting toward a person and felon in possession of a firearm.
He is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 25 on three more 2021 cases — two relating to alleged drug sales, and one charge of predatory offender failure to register address.
Heggs is scheduled to stand trial in October in two more 2023 cases, where he is accused of violating a domestic abuse no-contact order.
Additionally, Heggs faces one charge each of predatory offender failure to register address, and domestic assault dating to November 2022. There is no scheduled hearing for those charges.