Round Lake Park cops say they stumbledon marijuana growing operation

Officers stumbled on a marijuana growing operation while seeking a man suspected of driving a van over a woman's foot, Round Lake Park police said Friday.

Police Chief George Filenko said Steven G. Kisiel, 35, of the 24000 block of Clinton Avenue in unincorporated Lake County, was arrested Thursday night.

Filenko said police found packaged marijuana and plants in the home after Kisiel allowed them entry while seeking the hit-and-run suspect.

Kisiel was charged with unlawful possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, unlawful possession of cannabis and unlawful possession of cannabis sativa plants. He remained in the Lake County jail on $25,000 bail.

Filenko said cops were summoned at 6:30 p.m. Thursday to the 500 block of Fairlawn Drive on a report of a man crashing a van into a parked vehicle. The driver became upset when the 34-year-old woman who called police used her wireless telephone shoot pictures of him, according to the chief.

"He backs up in an attempt to intimidate her, runs over her foot and flees the scene," Filenko said.

Round Lake Park police were told by the suspect's girlfriend that he may have gone to Kisiel's home on Clinton Avenue just outside the village. Filenko said Kisiel told officers the man no longer was at his house and invited them inside to conduct a search.

Filenko said the officers found about 20 ounces of pot packaged in paper in Kisiel's home. He said they seized 16 marijuana plants, heat lamps and a ventilation system from the growing operation that was in Kisiel's bedroom.

Although police never found the hit-and-run suspect, Filenko said, he landed in the Lake County jail late Thursday and will be charged in the case.

James Knowles, 19, turned himself in at the jail on an arrest warrant for failing to appear in court on a theft charge, police said.