A man who was only charged with a misdemeanor when cops allegedly caught him driving a carjacked vehicle in August is back in custody after police allegedly caught him driving another hijacked car in the Gold Coast over the weekend.
Sam M. Jones, 25, was on parole for multiple felonies and on bond for manufacture-delivery heroin at the time of both of those arrests, prosecutors said.
Around 6:15 p.m. Saturday, CPD license plate readers detected a hijacked vehicle traveling on Lake Shore Drive near Lakeview, according to a police report. Officers went to the area, spotted the car, and tried to pull it over.
The driver sped away, collided with two other cars on the Oak Street S-curve, and crashed, the report said. Cops arrested Jones at the scene. The vehicle he allegedly drove was taken in a carjacking on September 16, Assistant State’s Attorney Darryl Auguste said.
Jones is charged with possessing a stolen motor vehicle, driving without a license, and other traffic-related offenses. Auguste said the carjacking remains under investigation.
On August 6, police arrested Jones for allegedly driving a car that had been hijacked one day earlier. He was only charged with a misdemeanor and walked out of the police station on a recognizance bond, CPD records show.
He also has a pending felony narcotics case stemming from an arrest in May — less than a month after he was paroled for multiple felonies, including heroin distribution, according to state records. Prosecutors, who charged Jones with manufacture-delivery and felony possession of a controlled substance during a May 14 bond hearing, said Jones sold heroin to an undercover cop and also had heroin in his possession when officers arrested him.
“Mr. Jones, playing with fire,” Judge Susana Ortiz warned during the May hearing. “You’re on parole here, picking up new serious offenses. Don’t give them an excuse to take you back in, sir.”
She then released him on a recognizance bond and told him to stay in the house from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., court records show. State authorities did not try to revoke Jones’ parole after the arrest.
Records show Jones pleaded guilty to six felonies in 2017, resulting in sentences of four years for manufacture-delivery of heroin, four years for possession of more than 15 grams of heroin, three years for possession of a controlled substance, one year for causing injury while resisting police, two years for another count of causing injury while resisting police, and four years for aggravated battery of a police officer.
Prosecutors said the Illinois Department of Corrections finally decided to consider revoking his parole after this weekend’s arrest.
Judge Mary Marubio ordered him held without bail while his parole is reviewed. She also ordered him held without bail for violating the bond terms in his pending narcotics case and set bail at $1,000 for violating the terms of bond in the pending misdemeanor criminal trespass to vehicle charge.
As to the new possession of a stolen motor vehicle case, Marubio set bail at $50,000 and ordered him to go onto electronic monitoring should he become eligible for release.
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