Three months after a judge upheld Rigoberto Ayala-Villareal’s 2013 arrest tied to a traffic stop in Aurora that allegedly turned up $200,000 in cocaine, the Aurora man now claims police seized the drugs with an illegal search.
Villareal, 37, is being held in Kane County Jail on $500,000 bail accused of possession of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Aurora police stopped Villareal’s vehicle on Lake Street in November 2013 and, during a subsequent search, found two packages of cocaine, police said.
Police reported Villareal had a suspended license at the time of the stop.
Villareal’s attorney unsuccessfully argued last year to Kane County Judge John Barsanti that police had no reason to make the traffic stop. In the newly filed motion, the attorney reiterates the search of Villareal’s vehicle was improper because officers did not have a warrant or consent to do so, but now contends it violated Villareal’s rights because it was unrelated to an arrest for driving without a valid license.
“There was no basis to search (Villareal’s) vehicle under the theory that relevant evidence relating to the offense under which he was arrested would be found in the vehicle,” the motion states.
The motion also alleges police questioned Villareal, who offered statements, during his arrest and while the vehicle was being searched. For those reasons, any evidence or information obtained after Villareal’s arrest should be suppressed, his attorney stated in the motion.
Prosecutors have not yet filed a response. The case is scheduled to return to court on April 10 for Barsanti to hear the motion.
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Dan Campana is a freelance reporter