CHICAGO — A 48-year-old Chicago man is facing 14 felony counts after Evanston police raided his North Side home on Friday and seized suspected methamphetamine, heroin, MDMA pills and cannabis, along with four firearms, ballistic protective equipment, several homemade incendiary devices and $1,185 in cash, the Evanston Police Department said.
Source: FOX 32 Chicago, reporting the Evanston Police Department
Police identified the man as Ernest W. Pentek. The department said its Special Operations Group began investigating Pentek after learning about an alleged drug operation distributing illegal drugs in the Evanston and Chicago areas, and investigators also gathered evidence indicating that he had several weapons.
The raid on North Ashland Avenue
On Friday, October 30, investigators executed a search warrant at Pentek's home in the 6900 block of North Ashland Avenue, on Chicago's North Side in the Rogers Park area. Pentek was arrested without incident. The Evanston Special Response Team and the Cook County Sheriff's Police Bomb Squad assisted in the raid — a precaution that fits the homemade incendiary devices police say were found inside.
Source: Particle, reporting the Evanston Police Department
According to the police account, officers seized 500 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 7.1 grams of suspected heroin, 39 suspected MDMA pills, roughly 2.6 pounds of suspected cannabis and a substance believed to be gamma-hydroxybutyrate, known as GHB. They also confiscated four firearms, an airsoft rifle, ballistic protective equipment, several homemade incendiary devices and $1,185. A police photograph of the seizure shows a shotgun, a rifle, handguns, packaged substances, cash and a ballistic vest and helmet laid out on a table.
The 14 felony counts
Pentek was charged with four counts of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, one count of aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon involving a shotgun with a barrel shorter than 18 inches, one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, one count of possession of methamphetamine, four counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, one count of possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, and one count of possession of cannabis — 14 felony counts in total.
Every drug quantity in the police account is described by officers as suspected or believed, pending testing, and the 14 counts are charges, not convictions. No statement from Pentek or a defence lawyer had been reported at the time of publication.
Why Evanston police led a raid inside Chicago
Evanston is a separate Cook County city that directly borders Chicago's North Side, and police say the investigation was into alleged distribution that reached both Evanston and Chicago neighbourhoods — which is why Evanston's Special Operations Group, rather than Chicago police, obtained and served the warrant at the Ashland Avenue home. The bomb squad's presence, and the ballistic equipment and incendiary devices listed in the seizure, made the operation a multi-agency one rather than a routine drug arrest.
What happens next
Pentek was due to appear in court in Chicago on Saturday, October 31, for his first hearing in the case. From there, the 14 counts move through the Cook County court process, where prosecutors must prove the charges and the seized substances must be confirmed as the drugs police suspect them to be. Police announced no further arrests in their account of the operation.