(May 2011, By MATT BUEDEL AND ANDY KRAVETZ)
CHILLICOTHE —
The Summer Camp music festival that has become as synonymous with drugs for locals as tunes for out-of-towners led to a backlog at the Peoria County Jail.
Several police agencies patrolled Illinois Route 29, the main road to Three Sisters Park, on Thursday, the day before the first of about 60 bands were scheduled to take the stages at the three-day festival.
They pulled over vehicles for beads hanging from rear view mirrors obstructing views, for crossing solid yellow lines, for speeding or improper lane usage. As one officer spoke to the driver, a K-9 unit would pull up to walk a dog around the vehicle.
The types of drugs seized after the searches were as varied as the home states of those arrested for possession: marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, cocaine, Ecstasy, nitrous oxide and other unidentified pills, powders and paraphernalia from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
In all, 27 people were booked into the Peoria County Jail on felony drug charges by early Friday. Of those, 14 went before a judge Friday afternoon.
"We're trying to process them as quick as we can," said Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy.
Friday afternoon's bonding court took nearly an hour, well more than the usual 10 to 15 minutes, as each person appeared before Circuit Judge Timothy Lucas. Bonds were set ranging from $5,000 to $30,000. Only three cases, prosecutors indicated, resulted from an undercover agent trying to buy drugs while inside the park. Rather, nearly all came as a result of traffic violations.
Assistant State's Attorney Dave Kenny said this year's 14 charges on the first day of the music festival is comparable with last year's numbers, when 16 people were charged in connection with Summer Camp. In all last year, about three dozen people wound up facing a variety of charges, according to Journal Star archives.
Deputies brought at least one other festival-goer to jail Thursday night and booked him on a charge of criminal trespass to land after he apparently mistakenly tried to enter a Chillicothe home.
A resident in the 16400 block of North Second Street called police after Brendan C. McIlhone, 19, of Waunakee, Wis., came to the sliding glass door at the back of her home and wouldn't leave, according to a report.
When deputies found him there, he still refused to let go of the handle and said his mom wouldn't let him inside his home. After threatening him with a Taser, McIlhone let go. Asked where he thought he was, McIlhone said Madison, Wis.
Several police agencies patrolled Illinois Route 29, the main road to Three Sisters Park, on Thursday, the day before the first of about 60 bands were scheduled to take the stages at the three-day festival.
They pulled over vehicles for beads hanging from rear view mirrors obstructing views, for crossing solid yellow lines, for speeding or improper lane usage. As one officer spoke to the driver, a K-9 unit would pull up to walk a dog around the vehicle.
The types of drugs seized after the searches were as varied as the home states of those arrested for possession: marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, cocaine, Ecstasy, nitrous oxide and other unidentified pills, powders and paraphernalia from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
In all, 27 people were booked into the Peoria County Jail on felony drug charges by early Friday. Of those, 14 went before a judge Friday afternoon.
"We're trying to process them as quick as we can," said Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy.
Friday afternoon's bonding court took nearly an hour, well more than the usual 10 to 15 minutes, as each person appeared before Circuit Judge Timothy Lucas. Bonds were set ranging from $5,000 to $30,000. Only three cases, prosecutors indicated, resulted from an undercover agent trying to buy drugs while inside the park. Rather, nearly all came as a result of traffic violations.
Assistant State's Attorney Dave Kenny said this year's 14 charges on the first day of the music festival is comparable with last year's numbers, when 16 people were charged in connection with Summer Camp. In all last year, about three dozen people wound up facing a variety of charges, according to Journal Star archives.
Deputies brought at least one other festival-goer to jail Thursday night and booked him on a charge of criminal trespass to land after he apparently mistakenly tried to enter a Chillicothe home.
A resident in the 16400 block of North Second Street called police after Brendan C. McIlhone, 19, of Waunakee, Wis., came to the sliding glass door at the back of her home and wouldn't leave, according to a report.
When deputies found him there, he still refused to let go of the handle and said his mom wouldn't let him inside his home. After threatening him with a Taser, McIlhone let go. Asked where he thought he was, McIlhone said Madison, Wis.
To deal with the expected deluge of drug and other arrests from the festival, police and prosecutors will work together over the long weekend to process and charge those arrested. Two prosecutors from the Peoria County State's Attorney's Office are on call when normally one works the weekend.
Early arrests and charges
Police from a handful of agencies racked up almost 30 felony drug arrests Thursday of music fans headed to the Summer Camp festival at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe. Not all of those booked into the Peoria County Jail were formally charged Friday, though some did appear in bonding court.
Those who were charged had their bonds set and were scheduled for a June 23 preliminary hearing.
(Peoria Jounal Star, http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1293693199/Drug-arrests-pile-up-at-Summer-Camp)
No comments:
Post a Comment