A domestic dispute in St. Cloud on Tuesday ended with illegal drugs being found and three people arrested

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office says they received a report of a man wielding a gun in front of a house in the 1600 block of 2nd Street Southeast. When police arrived, they found 33-year-old Candice Counter of Sauk Rapids and 53-year-old Eric Robertson of St. Cloud sitting in a car outside. Inside the home, they found 50-year-old homeowner Carlos Mendoza of St. Cloud and another woman.

A quick investigation found that Counter and Mendoza had recently broken up and Counter had showed up to remove her property from inside while Mendoza was gone. Mendoza then came home, which started a physical altercation. 

Counter told police that Mendoza came up to her with a gun and she attacked him to make him drop it. Mendoza denied her claim, saying that he never had a gun and that Counter had attacked him. Robertson was called by Counter once the situation escalated.

K-9 units were unable to find a gun, but were able to discover illegal substances in the car Counter and Robertson were in, which belonged to Robertson. A search found two baggies of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in Counter’s purse.

Mendoza and Counter were arrested for domestic assault charges, along with an additional controlled substance crime for Counter and Robinson. They are booked in Benton County Jail.