A couple was arrested after authorities say one of them sold fentanyl-laced drugs, which led to additional drugs and a ghost gun being found at their home in Zion, which was the “headquarters” for their operation.
Timmie D. Taylor, 43, of Zion, and Yolanda Taylor, 52, of Zion, were both charged with manufacturing or delivery of 15-100 grams of cocaine, manufacturing 15-200 ecstasy pills, possession of 15-100 grams of cocaine and possession of 15-200 pills of ecstasy.
Timmie Taylor was additionally charged with possession of a weapon by a convicted felon and Yolanda Taylor was additionally charged with possession of a firearm with an expired FOID or while not eligible for a FOID.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen McConnell said the Zion Police Department conducted five controlled drug buys over the course of 10 months from Yolanda Taylor.
In one of the buys, Timmie Taylor was seen approaching Yolanda Taylor’s vehicle at their residence after the woman told the purchaser that she needed to stop at her residence prior to making the sale, McConnell said.
The drugs purchased in the controlled buys included field test positive cocaine that came back as methamphetamines, as well as field test positive cocaine and lab-confirmed fentanyl.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for a home in the 2900 block of Elisha Avenue in Zion where the two live and was described as the “headquarters” for the operation, McConnell said.
The search warrant was served on December 9 and multiple items of evidence were recovered.
Two firearms were found in a bedroom where the couple sleeps. One of those included a 9mm Ruger handgun in Yolanda Taylor’s bedside table, McConnell said.
Ammunition, a speed loader with .38 special ammunition and a wallet belonging to the woman were in the table.
An unserialized P80 ghost gun and two loaded Glock magazines were found on Timmie Taylor’s side of the bed.
McConnell said both defendants admitted that each gun belonged to them. They are both prohibited from possessing firearms.
Yolanda Taylor’s Firearm Owner’s Identification card and concealed carry license are both revoked for a mental health condition.
Timmie Taylor is a convicted felon who was just recently discharged from parole for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in a 2024 Lake County case.
McConnell said officers additionally located a bag with 5.5 grams of a white rock-like substance that field-tested positive for cocaine.
A second bag contained seven grams of 18 round orange pills that field tested positive for methamphetamines.
A third bag contained four grams of 25 round blue pills that are marked M30. Officers believed them to be fentanyl.
Those drugs were found in a shared bedroom and Timmie Taylor admitted that the drugs belonged to him, McConnell said.
Officers located a wallet belonging to Yolanda Taylor in the kitchen that had 12 blue pills marked A215 that officers believed to be fentanyl.
McConnell said 53 grams of a white rocklike substance that field tested positive for cocaine was located in a cabinet above the refrigerator hidden in a box of ramen noodle packets.
A digital scale with cocaine residue was also recovered, along with two grams of suspected cocaine in a cabinet.
Yolana Taylor admitted to selling the blue fentanyl pills, which she called “Perc 10s” and acknowledged they were not prescription pills, McConnell said.
“Which is particularly concerning as she is selling fentanyl pills that are specifically intended to look like legitimate prescription pills and Defendant Yolanda is specifically referring to them as Perc 10s, which is a common slang name for Percocet, further, convincing any potential customers that these are legitimate, but then selling them fentanyl,” McConnell said.
“Furthermore, the fact that the Defendants each possessed firearms in the residence with large quantities of narcotics and while engaged in a months long scheme that included the sale of narcotics on multiple occasions is incredibly concerning as the Illinois Courts have ruled time and time again as there is a clear link between the sale of narcotics, the possession of firearms, and gun violence being used to protect product or profit,” the prosecutor added.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed petitions to detain both of them pending trial and Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted the requests following separate detention hearings.
Both remain held in the Lake County Jail and are scheduled to appear in court again on Thursday for an arraignment hearing.