A 46-year-old California man who was already wanted in Illinois is facing eight criminal charges in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, after prosecutors say he led police on a 15-to-20-minute pursuit through Somers and Kenosha on Wednesday, October 28 — reaching about 110 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone, driving into oncoming traffic and striking a police vehicle before crashing and running on foot, according to a criminal complaint reported by WLIP on Monday.
Source: WLIP
The driver is Peng Ren, 46, of Inglewood, California, the Kenosha County Eye reported. According to the complaint, the pursuit began when Ren allegedly fled from police in Illinois and continued north into Wisconsin, where Kenosha County sheriff's deputies and Kenosha police officers joined the chase. Near Shoreland High School, Ren allegedly reached approximately 110 miles per hour in an area with a posted speed limit of 35. On Green Bay Road, he allegedly drove directly toward a squad car carrying three officers.
The chase ended near Washington Road and 14th Avenue in Kenosha, where Ren crashed his vehicle, according to the complaint. He then allegedly ran from the scene on foot before officers caught and arrested him. The complaint also indicates that Ren had outstanding arrest warrants in both Illinois and Iowa. WLIP reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged an immigration detainer against Ren — meaning federal immigration authorities have formally registered their interest in his custody alongside the state criminal case. The allegations in the complaint have not been proven in court.
The bail hearing: $100,000 cash, plus a separate extradition case
Ren appeared in Kenosha County court on Thursday, October 29, before Court Commissioner Daniel Kellum, who set $100,000 cash bail in the new criminal case and an additional $5,000 cash bail in a separate extradition case, the Kenosha County Eye reported. The extradition case exists because of the Illinois allegations: Ren is wanted in Illinois on felony identity theft and fraud allegations, according to the Eye's reporting on the complaint and the sheriff's office. Wisconsin courts handle a wanted person's local charges first or in parallel, while the demanding state pursues his return through the extradition process.
Background: three states, two kinds of custody
Ren's case sits at the intersection of three legal tracks. The first is the new Wisconsin prosecution itself: eight charges arising from the October 28 pursuit, including felony counts, which Kenosha County prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. The second is extradition: the outstanding warrants from Illinois — where the underlying allegations are felony identity theft and fraud — and Iowa give those states their own claims on him once Wisconsin's courts decide how he is held. The third is federal: an ICE detainer is a request that a jail notify federal immigration authorities before releasing a person and hold him briefly so ICE can take custody. A detainer is not itself a criminal charge, and it does not decide the state case — but it means that even if Ren posted bail or resolved the Wisconsin charges, he would not simply walk out of the Kenosha County jail.
Kenosha County sits on the Wisconsin–Illinois state line, directly on the corridor between Milwaukee and Chicago, and its courts routinely handle cases that begin as Illinois matters and end in Wisconsin crashes or arrests. What makes this pursuit stand out in the complaint is the combination of the speed — three times the posted limit near a high school — the alleged drive into oncoming traffic and toward an occupied squad car, and the fact that the driver was, on the authorities' account, already wanted in two other states when the chase began.
A detainer asks the jail to tell ICE before the person is released and to hold him for a short period so federal officers can collect him. It is an administrative request, not a conviction and not a Wisconsin charge; the eight Kenosha County charges still have to be proven in court, and Ren is presumed innocent of them.
What happens next
Ren remains subject to the $100,000 cash bail in the Kenosha County case and the $5,000 cash bail in the extradition case unless a court changes those amounts. His Wisconsin case will move through Kenosha County Circuit Court, while Illinois pursues extradition on its identity-theft and fraud allegations and the Iowa warrant remains outstanding. If he is released from state custody at any point, the ICE detainer means federal immigration authorities are first in line to take him.