Aurora police seized heroin, cocaine and marijuana with a street value of more than $53,000 in two recent traffic stops, police said Wednesday.
Most recently, at about 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, police stopped a 2015 Jeep Cherokee after it pulled out in front of a patrol officer at Fox Pointe Drive and Mair Drive, according to a news release from the Aurora Police Department. Police discovered the driver, Ado D. Autman, 28, of the 1300 block of Pioneer Road in Crest Hill, had a revoked license and did not have proof of insurance, according to the news release. An inventory of the Jeep after Autman’s arrest revealed a backpack with more than 10.5 ounces of heroin, 3.5 ounces of cocaine and one pound of marijuana inside, according to police.
The narcotics have a total street value of about $50,000, according to police.
Police said they also found $1,885 in cash in Autman’s front pockets.
The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office authorized felony charges against Autman of two counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and a single count of unlawful possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. The controlled substance charges are Class X felonies, which call for enhanced penalties if Autman is convicted, according to police.
Autman was released from Aurora police custody Wednesday after posting the required 10 percent of his $90,000 bail.
Over the preceding weekend, another traffic stop resulted in lesser drug charges.
Police stopped a car at 11:05 p.m. Saturday near State Street and North Avenue. While the driver – a 43-year-old man from Ottawa – was ticketed for failure to signal and was verbally warned about his car’s “excessively loud exhaust,” some of his passengers received criminal charges.
When special operations investigators approached the car, they saw an open beer in plain view in the back seat, according to police.
When police asked passenger Steve A. Suarez, 40, of the 600 block of Woodlawn Avenue, Aurora, for his identification, he allegedly pulled a bag containing cocaine out of one of his jacket pockets, according to police. He tried to conceal the cocaine by closing his hand around it, but one of the officers had already spotted the bag, according to police. Police said he had an ounce of cocaine with a street value of $3,000.
Suarez was taken into custody without incident and the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office approved charges against him of manufacturing or delivery of a controlled substance, a Class X felony, and unlawful possession of a controlled substance.
Suarez was already on parole for drug charges, so the Illinois Department of Corrections issued a new warrant stemming from his latest felony charges, according to the news release.
Suarez is at the Kane County Correctional Center in St. Charles, where his bail has been set at $150,000.
A rear seat passenger, a 36-year-old Aurora man, was also charged with illegal transportation of alcohol after police found a beer in one of his jacket pockets, according to the news release. The other passenger, a 40-year-old Ottawa man, was not charged with anything, according to police.
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