Owatonna man, wife face new charges of drug dealing

An Owatonna man charged just a week ago with selling a confidential informant over a quarter pound of psilocybin mushrooms has been hit with new charges for possession of a large amount of cannabis, while his wife has also been charged with selling psilocybin mushrooms.

Steven Thomas Bessette, 43, was charged in Steele County District Court with three seperate felony counts of possession of cannabis flower, possession of cannabis concentrate and possession of edible cannabis products, on September 11.

One week prior, investigators with the South Central Drug Investigation Unit executed a search warrant on the residence he shares with his wife Rachel Naomi Bessette, 41. According to the criminal complaint, agents located a room “filled with marijuana and THC products.”

Among the products agents removed from the room were multiple jars of THC brown sugar, 31 jars of THC resin, three jars of wax-like cannabis concentrate, 67 containers of THC wax, two rubber containers of cannabis concentrate and 161 joints along with 5.8 pounds of marijuana.

In a separate indictment filed the next day, Rachel Bessette was charged with a felony count of first degree drug sale for selling 120 grams worth of psilocybin mushrooms to a confidential informant on Aug. 27.

The confidential informant said they noticed a large amount of marijuana inside the residence as well, along with a young child. During the sale, only Rachel Bessette and the informant were seen or heard from on the informant’s covert recording device.