CHICAGO — A Florida man may be spending more time in Chicago than he intended after Amtrak police allegedly found $1.2 million worth of methamphetamine in his luggage at Union Station.
Officers stopped Urani Hector, 32, of suburban Tampa, at the train station after an Amtrak canine alerted them to a “narcotic odor” coming from his bags, a Chicago police arrest report said. After getting Hector’s permission to search his bags, the cops opened his luggage and found 3.7 kilograms—that’s a bit more than 8 pounds—of suspected meth, according to the report.
Judge Barabara Dawkins told Hector he could get out of jail if he went on electronic monitoring. Since people can only be placed on electronic monitoring if they live in Cook County, Hector may be staying in jail for a while.
He’s charged with Class X felony manufacture-delivery of methamphetamine and possessing a controlled substance.
Another arrest
Another traveler who passed through Union Station is also spending extra time in Chicago. A federal drug task force arrested Derrick Winston, 24, of Ottumwa, Iowa, upon his arrival on a probation violation warrant, according to his arrest report.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the DEA task force also seized Winston’s luggage, which allegedly contained about $134,000 worth of marijuana in four vacuum-sealed bags.
Judge Ankur Srivastava ruled that Winston could be released to await trial on a felony manufacture-delivery of cannabis charge. However, Winston continues to sit in Cook County jail on the probation warrant.
Child’s play
While Hector and Winston cool their heels in the county clink, a Chicago man who allegedly rolled 62 pounds of cocaine into Chicago
Terrence Slaughter, 55, was arrested at Midway on October 24, the 16th anniversary of the day a federal judge sentenced him to 15.67 years for stealing guns from a retired cop and intentionally selling them to gang members, according to court records.
Chicago police said Slaughter gave investigators consent to search his two roller bags at Midway shortly before 2 p.m. last Tuesday. Cops found 12 vacuum-sealed bags of suspected cocaine in one bag and 11 sealed bags of suspected cocaine in the other, documents accompanying the criminal complaint said.
Altogether, the investigators recovered 62 pounds of suspected cocaine with a street value of $3,518,125, according to the complaint.
Prosecutors charged Slaughter with Class X manufacture-delivery of cocaine. They did not, however, ask Judge David Kelly to detain Slaughter before trial. So, the judge released him with instructions to show up for court, stay in the state, and stay away from Midway, the clerk of court records show.
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