A Wauconda police canine helped officers locate multiple baggies of drugs during a traffic stop that resulted in the arrest of a self-admitted drug dealer in Wauconda.
The Wauconda Police Department conducted a traffic stop on eastbound Bonner Road at Fairfield Road around 6:20 p.m. Wednesday.
Officers conducted a traffic stop on a Ford Fusion after noticing it commit multiple traffic violations, police officials said.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Vukovich said the Ford had just left a known drug house on Van Buren Avenue.
A canine unit was requested to the scene to conduct an external sniff of the vehicle.
Officer Jon Finze and Canine Badger responded to the traffic stop to assist, police officials said.
Badger alerted to the presence of drugs on both the driver and passenger sides of the vehicle.
A search of the vehicle revealed two glass crack pipes, a scale with white residue, seven clear plastic baggies containing a white rock-like substance suspected to be crack cocaine and a clear plastic baggy containing 21 pills of oxycodone.
Police officials said the suspected crack cocaine tested positive for the presence of cocaine and weighed 37.2 grams.
The case was screened by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, which approved charges against Louis A. Nava Jr., 51, of Wauconda, consisting of two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and two counts of possession of a controlled substance.
All of the charges are felonies, including the most serious which is a Class X felony that carries six to 30 years in prison.
Vukovich said Nava admitted to frequently picking up drugs in Waukegan and selling them.
A detention hearing was held Friday afternoon and Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonjak granted prosecutors’ petition to detain Nava pending trial.
Vukovich said Nava has an extensive criminal history and was on pre-trial release for a drug case and driving on a revoked license case from last month.