Chicago — Cook County sheriff’s office investigators found nearly $1 million worth of narcotics, over $11,000 in cash, and a gun in the home of a man who was on electronic monitoring for a pending narcotics and firearms case, officials said. He is also on probation for manufacture-delivery of cocaine.
Charles Douglas, 35, is now facing even more narcotics charges, but authorities have not charged him with possessing the firearm.
Douglas was on electronic monitoring while awaiting trial on a charge of Class X armed habitual criminal. Chicago police pulled him over for a traffic violation on July 31 and allegedly found 83 bags of heroin and 36 bags of crack under the carpeting behind his driver’s seat. The cops said they also found a loaded handgun in plain view behind the passenger seat.
During a bail hearing on August 1, his defense attorney argued that Douglas didn’t own the car and said he made just $700 a week from a construction job.
Nonetheless, he posted a $12,000 bail deposit the same day and went home on electronic monitoring.
Sheriff’s office investigators who went to his house on November 14 to conduct an electronic monitoring “compliance check” found a large stash of narcotics inside a deep freezer in the basement, prosecutor Rhianna Biernat said.
The appliance contained two pounds of cocaine worth $929,700, $5,680 worth of heroin, 21 boxes of sleep aid, a synthetic opioid called carfentanil, and other narcotics materials, Biernat alleged. Investigators also found a bag of so-called “Grey Death,” a mixture of carfentanil, heroin, and other opioids that is more than 100 times more powerful than deadly fentanyl, according to the sheriff’s office.
The office said investigators also recovered a firearm, but Biernat did not mention the gun during Douglas’ bail hearing. In Douglas’ bedroom drawer, officials found $11,858 in cash.
Douglas, a woman, and a third person who lives in the home were handcuffed in the living room while the search was conducted. At one point, Douglas allegedly yelled to the woman, “You can take it, babe, and be out tomorrow versus me never getting out.”
The woman, who was serving as Douglas’ electronic monitoring host, allegedly replied, “I’m not doing that. You better do the right thing.”
His defense attorney argued that the narcotics were found in a basement freezer, but Douglas lived on the first floor. She dismissed his alleged comment to the woman as not being a “statement of possession” and said other bedrooms in the basement were not his.
The state’s allegations, she argued, are “very weak at best.”
Judge Charles Beach ruled that Douglas must pay a $10,000 bail deposit to get out of jail on the new charges. Douglas is also being held without bail for violating his bond and probation.
