Crime & Safety

Northfield Woman Arrested Again for Heroin Possession

Authorities say they found heroin in Danielle Elizabeth Bergson's car when they made a routine traffic stop in October.

A Northfield woman already facing felony drug charges has been charged again with possession of heroin in Rice County, less than a month after police say they found heroin in her home and her 13-month-old child was put into protective custody. 

Danielle Elizabeth Bergson, 23, is now charged with fifth-degree drug possession, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. She is also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, a petty misdemeanor.

A Rice County Sheriff’s deputy was southbound on Highway 3 near the Jefferson Parkway intersection in Northfield on Oct. 10 when he noticed that the car in front of him had a broken taillight, according to the criminal complaint.

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The deputy stopped the car and identified the front-seat passenger as Bergson and the driver as Kyle Phillip Heckers, 29. Bergson’s young child was also in the car. When Bergson opened the glove box to look for proof of insurance, the deputy spotted two syringes on top of a stack of papers.

Bergson immediately covered the syringes with a piece of paper and began shuffling through another stack of papers, the complaint says. During that process, she picked up the paper covering the syringes and dropped the syringes on the floor.

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The deputy asked Bergson and Heckers about the syringes, but neither one answered. Bergson finally replied that the syringes belonged to a friend, who used them for insulin, but wouldn’t tell the deputy the name of that friend, according to the complaint.

The deputy asked why she had hidden the syringes, and Bergson said she didn’t want to get in trouble for having them in her car, the complaint says. She picked up one of the syringes and put in on the center console.

The deputy ordered Bergson and Heckers out of the car, and a K-9 officer was brought in to check for drugs.

A subsequent search of the car turned up a shot glass in the glove box containing a white residue and a piece of cotton stained brown. Deputies also found a plastic bag with a light-brown residue inside, a paper bag holding several more syringes and a pipe with marijuana residue in it, according to the complaint.

When the deputy told Bergson that she was under arrest, she became “very upset” and claimed that the drugs and paraphernalia belonged to Heckers. Heckers initially claimed that the items belonged to a friend, but then told authorities that they were his, adding, “Someone has to take the blame for it,” according to the complaint.

Heckers was arrested on suspicion of drug possession and later charged with fifth-degree drug possession, a felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a petty misdemeanor. The felony carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Bergson was allowed to leave the scene with her child.

Bergson made her first appearance in court last week on the new charges and remains in the Rice County Jail on a $15,000 bond. She is scheduled to make her next appearance on the new charges Dec. 7.

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