A convicted felon who ran from officers was charged after allegedly possessing cocaine and pulling a loaded gun on a woman at a shopping center in Gurnee.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Vukovich said the Gurnee Police Department was called on September 12 to 6521 Grand Avenue in Gurnee.
A woman called 911 to report she was with Donte R. Agee, 40, of Waukegan, in the parking lot of the shopping center, which contains Best Buy, T.J. Maxx, Jewel-Osco and more.
The woman is the victim of Agee in three pending domestic battery cases and a pending stalking case, Vukovich said.
She told dispatchers that Agee pulled a gun on her while she was in the car with him.
Agee fled the car on foot before officers arrived and bystanders directed officers to where he went behind the shopping complex, Vukovich said.
Agee ran to the dumpsters behind the Shoe Carnival and officers told him to stop but he refused and a chase ensued.
Officers arrested Agee a short time later at the Northlake Farms Apartments west of the shopping center.
Vukovich said a canine unit indicated on the dumpster where Agee was seen and officers found two rock-like cocaine balls that weighed 38 grams. A loaded Glock 19 handgun was found next to the drugs.
Agee was initially only charged with resisting a peace officer and was held in the Lake County Jail on the prior domestic battery cases.
The gun and drugs were sent to a crime lab for analysis and a search warrant was obtained for Agee’s DNA.
Vukovich said the crime lab reported in early December that the gun had Agee’s DNA on it.
Agee was charged late last month — over four months later — with possession of a firearm by a repeat felony offender, possession of 15-100 grams of cocaine, felon in possession of a weapon enhanced and aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon enhanced.
Agee was on pre-trial release at the time of his arrest in September for the domestic battery cases, Vukovich said.
Lake County judges had denied two petitions to detain him on those domestic battery cases and released him before he was later arrested for the Gurnee incident, court records show.
Agee is also a convicted felon with previous convictions for weapons offenses, including a shooting.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Agee pending trial in the new weapons and drug case.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted the petition during a detention hearing last week.
Vukovich also said in court that prosecutors recently filed a motion to revoke Agee’s phone, tablet and mail privileges in the jail due to him contacting the victim in the domestic battery cases over 500 times between August 23 and September 23, along with over 1,900 calls to the victim September 12 and January 10.
Agee, who remains held in the Lake County Jail, is scheduled to appear in court again on Monday for a hearing on a defense motion.