A father who was driving with two young children in the car wanted to “prove” he was not intoxicated and drove to the Vernon Hills Police Department, only to blow over the legal limit, prosecutors said.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Emily Shanley-Roberts said that Sergey Vitvilyuk, 44, of Skokie, drove to the Vernon Hills Police Department around 6:45 p.m. on March 24.
Officers made contact with Vitvilyuk, who told them that he and his wife were at a marriage counseling session in Vernon Hills.
His wife accused Vitvilyuk of being intoxicated and he drove himself to the police department because he wanted to “prove” that he was not intoxicated, Shanley-Roberts said.
Vitvilyuk asked that officers perform a portable breath test on him.
The couple’s two children, ages five and nine, were in the car with Vitvilyuk at the police department.
Shanley-Roberts said younger child was in a car seat in the back seat.
Officers believed the older child was sitting in the front seat because the back seat, besides where the other child was sitting, was full of stuff.
Shanley-Roberts said Vitvilyuk blew a 0.137 in the preliminary breath test and officers determined he was under the influence of alcohol.
Shanley-Roberts said this occurred during rush hour in Vernon Hills and there were numerous other vehicles on the road when Vitvilyuk was driving drunk with his two children in the car.
Vitvilyuk was charged with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence with a passenger under 16 years old and two counts of child endangerment.
Vitvilyuk has prior convictions for child endangerment in 2019 and 2022 cases. The 2022 case involved the same children and Vitvilyuk being intoxicated, Shanley-Roberts said.
Attorney Douglas Roberts, who is representing Vitvilyuk, argued in court that there was no substantial evidence against his client of him being under the influence.
Roberts also said the therapist’s office is a few hundred feet from the police department and he did not drive far.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Vitvilyuk pending trial but Lake County Judge James Simonian denied the petition and allowed Vitvilyuk to be released.
The judge said that he did not believe the charges against Vitvilyuk were detainable under Illinois’ cashless bail law based on the circumstances of the case.
Vitvilyuk is scheduled to appear in court again on April 15 for an arraignment hearing.