Police recovered guns, body armor and more than 1,200 rounds of ammunition when they arrested a man on Tuesday in Woodbury.
Samuel D. Shoen, 35, was known for allegedly selling grenades for $375 apiece and having ties to the white supremacist group Hammerskins, according to charges filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court.
Shoen is charged with second-degree possession of meth, three counts of possession of a firearm by an ineligible person and commission of a crime while wearing or possessing a bullet-resistant vest. Shoen does not have a permanent address.
According to the complaint: Police began investigating Shoen after a confidential informant told police in November that Shoen had dozens of grenades and carried a fully automatic Uzi.
The informant tried to buy grenades from Shoen, but Shoen said they were traded for marijuana, the complaint said. Shoen later allegedly sold the informant a gun that was reported stolen in 2009.
A second informant traveled with Shoen to his grow house in northern Minnesota but took Shoen's car and drove it back to the metro when Shoen grew suspicious of his motives. The two had stopped at a motel, and the informant left while Shoen was showering.
A gun and body armor were recovered from the car, the charges allege.
On Tuesday, Shoen returned to the Twin Cities because he was told his car was in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Vadnais Heights. Police were waiting for him, and followed the car he was in, a Saturn, as it left the store.
