Cops: Theater Manager Sold Coke & Popcorn

MAY 6--The manager of a Minnesota movie theater sold cocaine hidden in a bag of popcorn to a police informant, according to court records.

Jamie Lynn Hiniker, 39, was named yesterday in a criminal complaint charging her with narcotics sales. Hiniker is the general manager of the four-screen Spotlight Theatres in Mankato, a city 80 miles from Minneapolis.

If convicted of the felony drug count, Hiniker faces a maximum 20-year prison term and a fine of up to $250,000.

Hiniker was a target of a Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force probe, according to a probable cause affidavit. An investigator reported that he knew “through previous investigations” that Hiniker worked at a movie theater and “the sale of cocaine typically took place behind the theater in an alley or at the theater in a popcorn container with popcorn.”

In a phone call with Hiniker, a confidential informant last year arranged for the purchase of $100 worth of cocaine, the affidavit states. After conducting the buy at the theater--which is in the Mankato Place mall--the informant told cops that they “entered the mall and Hiniker put the cocaine in a popcorn bag. Popcorn was then placed in the bag.”

The informant turned the popcorn bag over to police, who say that the cocaine Hiniker sold on July 21 weighed .406 grams.

According to court records, Hiniker has previously been convicted of obstruction, theft, malicious punishment of a child, DWI, and drug possession. Hiniker is pictured above in a mug shot snapped following a prior arrest. (2 pages)