Crime & Safety
Police: 3 Mokena Teens Arrested for Underage Drinking, Pot Possession
Eduardo Villagomez, 19, and two 17-year-olds face charges of underage drinking, marijuana possession and obstructing a police officer after vandalizing an O'Connel Street home.
Three Mokena teenagers were arrested and charged with underage consumption of alcohol and possession of marijuana on Aug. 15 after they were seen fleeing from the scene of a case of criminal property damage, according to a report.
Two of the teens, both 17, also were charged with interfering with a village officer. The owner of the vandalized property has agreed to not press charges after the alleged offender's parents offered to pay for the damage.
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Eduardo Villagomez, 19, of the 10700 block of Green Meadows Drive, and two 17-year-olds were spotted by a patrol officer at 2:07 a.m. as they were running west on O'Connel Street away from what was later discovered to be the site of a vandalized basketball hoop and several broken landscaping rocks on the 10300 block of O'Connel.
The officer cut off the teens by pulling into a driveway on the 10400 block of O'Connel Street and advised them to stop, the report stated. Before the officer could exit his squad car, one of the 17-year-olds—described as a white male wearing a white shirt and white hat—jumped a fence and fled, while Villagomez and the other teen obeyed the officer, the report continued.
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When asked why they were running, Villagomez and the other teen told the officer that the teen that had fled broke a basketball hoop. The officer detected alcohol on their breath and noticed glassy and bloodshot eyes, the report stated. When they took a field sobriety test, both teens failed, according to the report.
The teens were arrested, and the officer found a metal smoking device with burnt residue that was suspected to be marijuana in his sweatpants pocket, the report stated. A prescription pill bottle with Villagomez's name on it also was found near where the teens stopped, according to the report. The bottle contained 0.6 grams of a crushed, green leafy substance suspected to be marijuana.
A clear plastic baggie containing 18.7 grams of the same leafy substance was found in the grass on the opposite side of the sidewalk, the report stated. The two teens were taken to the Mokena Police Department, while the original responding officer continued searching for the fleeing teen.
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The final teen was eventually found riding in the car of a 20-year-old Mokena woman, the report said, adding the teen apologized to the officer for breaking the hoop. The driver was interviewed at the scene and not charged.
At the police station, the teens did not claim ownership of the bag of suspected marijuana. The teens were later released, and their next court date is Sept. 10.
Police report information is provided by . Charges are not evidence of guilt. They are a record of police actions taken on a given day, and persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. If you or a family member are charged or cited and the case is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to notify the editor. We will verify and report the outcome.
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