A water plant operator was arrested and found with drugs shortly after dropping his young child off at school following a DEA investigation that showed he was selling cocaine in Lake County.
Reginald L. Clark, 41, of North Chicago, was charged with three counts of manufacturing or delivery of cocaine and three counts of possession of cocaine.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group (LCMEG) began investigating Clark for narcotics trafficking in September 2024.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Elizabeth Cannon said a confidential source worked with law enforcement to arrange controlled purchases of cocaine from Clark.
The confidential source met with officers before and after each drug purchase. They were searched before and after and given an amount of serialized cash.
The source would then hand over the drugs to the officers after the transaction was complete, Cannon said.
Officers covertly surveilled the source and Clark before, during and after the controlled buys.
The confidential source met with Clark in September 2024 to purchase cocaine at a gas station on Belvidere Road in Waukegan.
Cannon said the source got into Clark’s Chevrolet Tahoe after he parked at a gas pump and gave him $850 in exchange for almost 28 grams of cocaine.
The confidential source met with Clark again in December at the Bass Pro Shops, 6112 West Grand Avenue in Gurnee.
The source got into Clark’s Chevrolet after he had parked near the business in the Gurnee Mills parking lot.
Clark was given $850 in exchange for another 28 grams of cocaine, Cannon said.
Investigators surveilled Clark’s residence in the 1700 block of Natoma Avenue in North Chicago during a morning in mid-April.
Cannon said Clark left his home in his Chevrolet with a small child and drove to a nearby elementary school.
Clark dropped off his child at school and officers conducted a traffic stop on the Chevrolet and took him into custody.
A search of Clark revealed a baggie containing several individually packaged baggies of cocaine.
Clark tried claiming an officer planted the drugs in his pocket. “When the officers asked the Defendant why he had cocaine on him when he was taking his child to school, the Defendant did not respond,” Cannon said.
Clark was transported to a police department and admitted to selling cocaine.
He told officers he buys an “eight ball” for $80 approximately every other week and breaks it down to sell.
Cannon said Clark described himself as a “gram” level dealer and the most he has ever sold at one time is an “eight ball.”
He was released from custody at that time and charges were not filed until August when a warrant was issued for his arrest.
“This Defendant not only sold a non-probationable amount of cocaine to a confidential source twice, but was also arrested with cocaine on his person, shortly after he drove his young child to elementary school,” Cannon said.
Clark has prior convictions for drug offenses in Lake County cases from 2005 and 2018.
A public defender for Clark said his client works as a water treatment plant operator, cooperated with the police and he was not a “sophisticated” dealer.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Clark pending trial and Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim denied the petition.
The judge said that while the proof was evident that Clark committed the offenses, he believed prosecutors failed to prove that the man poses a danger to the community that no conditions of release could mitigate.
Clark remains on pre-trial release conditions and is scheduled to appear in court on November 13 for a preliminary hearing.