Western Courier

Issue date: 2/6/09 Section: News

Media Credit: McDonough County Sherrif's Office

Two search warrants, a traffic stop and an order requiring residents to clean up their lawn made for a busy drug busting weekend for the Macomb Police Department and McDonough County Sheriff's Office.

Heroin, cocaine and cannabis were all found in Macomb between Friday, Jan. 30 and Sunday, Feb. 1 with a total of 11 people in four separate incidents arrested, including one current student of Western Illinois University.

After a month-long investigation into possible drug dealing at 433 W. Orchard St., officers served a search warrant at 3:05 p.m. on Jan. 30 and arrested four, according to a Macomb Police Department Media Release. At the residence, Daniel Bronner, 21, of Maywood, Ill., was charged with possession of cannabis 30 - 500 grams, manufacture/delivery of cannabis 30 - 500 grams and possession of a controlled substance. Kevin Simpson, 18, of Macomb, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. Quincy Smith, 21, of Maywood was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of cannabis less than 2.5 grams and Jamall Howleit, 22, also of Maywood, was charged with possession of cannabis 30 - 500 grams, manufacture/delivery of cannabis 30 - 500 grams.

In Bronner's room, officers found a safe containing nearly 400 grams of cannabis, scales and packaging materials.

In the second incident on Jan. 31, MPD and the McDonough County Sheriff's Office served a search warrant and arrested three more at 601 W. Orchard St. Apt. #2 after a sting involving purchasing cannabis earlier the same night. Out of the nine people found at the residence, Melvin Norman Jr., 21, of Chicago, was charged with possession of a controlled substance, manufacture/delivery of cannabis 2.5 - 10 grams, unlawful possession of a firearm (handgun) and two counts of possession of firearms (ammunition).

In an attic crawlspace above Norman's room, police found scales, a handgun, ammunition and more cannabis.

Gerald Spikes, 20, of Phoenix Ill. was charged with one count of delivery of cannabis 2.5 - 10 grams, possession of cannabis less than 2.5 grams and possession of a controlled substance. In Spikes' room, police found more cannabis and the money used during the earlier sting.

The final person in the house was Aaron Searcy, 20, of Hazel Crest, Ill. who was charged with possession of a controlled substance.

Also on Jan. 31, James Mette, 19, of Glenview, Ill., was pulled over by MPD officers after failing to use his turn signal near the 300 block of N. Lafayette St. around 10 a.m. The passenger, Andrew Wildhage, 21, also of Glenview, was also cited for not wearing a seatbelt. While an officer performed a consensual pat down, the officer found heroin, a hypodermic syringe and a spoon used with heroin in Wildhage's jacket. Wildhage admitted Mette had consumed heroin earlier before driving and was charged with driving under the influence of drugs or a combination of drugs.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools