Police who tracked down a wanted suspect at a Vernon Hills home found him in possession of over 800 fentanyl pills along with a large quantity of cocaine and methamphetamine.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigation Group (SIG) conducted a controlled buy operation in February where Xavier J. Thomas, 33, of Chicago, was the target.
A buyer contacted Thomas on two occasions to purchase 1.5 and 3.5 grams of crack cocaine, according to Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Theis.
Theis said the buyer met with Thomas on both occasions and the transactions were conducted.
An arrest warrant was issued for Thomas on August 28 charging him with two counts of manufacturing or delivery of 1-15 grams of cocaine, a Class 1 felony, and two counts of possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony.
After the warrant was issued, a vehicle believed to be driven by Thomas fled from Lake County sheriff’s deputies later in the evening on August 28.
Officers were aware that Thomas was wanted for the drug case warrant.
The Vernon Hills Police Department went to Thomas’ girlfriend’s home in Vernon Hills but they did not find him there, Theis said.
Two days later, Thomas’ vehicle was detected on the Flock Safety automated license plate reader system.
Officers again went to Thomas’ girlfriend’s home and the man showed up at her home minutes later.
Theis said Thomas got out of the gray 2020 Cadillac sedan while carrying a black backpack and went into the house.
Officers set up a perimeter around the home. Thomas exited the residence and got into a Honda Pilot in the driveway, Theis said.
Officers surrounded Thomas and took him into custody on the warrant.
Theis said Thomas had a baggie containing 0.4 grams of cocaine and a second baggie containing 0.7 grams of heroin. He had $1,500 in cash and two cell phones on him.
One of the phones showed a text message on the lock screen with the words, “Yo, I need a 100. I got cash,” according to Theis.
Theis said officers found in the backpack 86 grams of cocaine, 826 fentanyl pills weighing 200.7 grams, 239 methamphetamine pills weighing 140 grams, 5.1 grams of heroin, a scale and unused plastic baggies.
An open-air sniff with a canine was performed on the Cadillac sedan and the canine alerted on the vehicle, Theis said.
Officers found $20 cash and one bag containing two grams of orange pills that tested positive for methamphetamine.
Thomas told officers that all of the drugs belonged to him but were for personal use, Theis said.
In addition to the warrant charges, Thomas was charged with methamphetamine delivery between 100-400 grams, manufacturing or delivery of 100-400 grams of fentanyl, manufacturing or delivery of 15-100 grams of cocaine and manufacturing or delivery of 1-15 grams of heroin.
Thomas was previously convicted of distributing cocaine in a 2015 Lake County case and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonjak granted a petition filed by prosecutors to detain Thomas pending trial.
Thomas, who remains held in the Lake County Jail, is scheduled to appear in court again on September 26 for a preliminary hearing.