Zion man accused in vehicle theft

A 19-year-old Zion man was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and several other offenses after a foot search by police in Vernon Hills.

Larry L. Ward was also charged with theft, possession of cannabis, speeding, improper lane usage, reckless driving, making an improper turn, and leaving the scene of a property damage accident. He also was wanted on a Lake County warrant for failing to appear in court, police said.

Ward was held Thursday on $50,000 bail in the Lake County jail, meaning he would need to post $5,000 to be released. A court date is set for June 10.

Police said a resident on the 0 to 100 block of Royal Oak Drive in the Grosse Pointe subdivision on the village's southwest side called at 4:20 a.m. Tuesday to report his black Jeep had been stolen from the driveway and that he had seen it heading north on Royal Oak.

An officer driving west on Route 60 from Butterfield Road saw a vehicle fitting the description heading east on Route 60, east of Route 45, and made a U-turn to follow, police said. The vehicle continued east on Route 60 into Vernon Hills and turned right into the entrance of the Hawthorn Hills shopping center, just west of Milwaukee Avenue, police said.

According to police, the officer saw the vehicle had struck the shopping center sign on the southeast corner of the entrance, but there were no occupants inside. The area was secured and a search began with help from Libertyville, Lincolnshire and Mundelein police and a Bannockburn K-9 unit. A citizen who had been in the parking lot told police he saw someone running from the scene, police said.

About 6 a.m. an employee from the Home Depot store reported someone pulled on the back doors of the store. Police said they saw a man, later identified as Ward, hiding in the bushes near Sam's Club. He ran into a field where he was apprehended, police said.