Overdose could get St. Charles man caught with heroin, stolen guns booted from drug court
A man arrested last year in St. Charles who tried to escape with stolen guns by jumping into a pond is in danger of being thrown out of Kane County's drug court because he overdosed this week.
An arrest warrant was issued for Anthony Caruso, 26, of the 33W099 block of Toni Street, St. Charles, after he missed a court date "based on the defendant's overdose," according to court records.
Caruso, who was arrested in July 2017 in what police had called a "pure coincidence," was admitted into the drug court in June 2018 after pleading guilty to burglary and armed violence, both felonies.
Caruso was caught a year ago after a cleaning crew at an industrial park in St. Charles accidentally tripped an alarm. Responding police officers pulled up to the 3800 block of Commerce Drive on the city's far east side and saw Caruso, who they said had just robbed his parents' house in a nearby unincorporated area, standing with a large, wheeled duffel bag and waiting for a getaway cab.
Inside the bag were seven guns. Caruso tried to flee, at one point jumping in an algae-filled detention pond, before officers arrested him. They later found four small packets of suspected heroin - three in his backpack and one in his wallet, authorities said.
Caruso served 185 days at the Kane County jail before being released in January 2018 for inpatient residential treatment at Gateway in Aurora, according to court records.
Caruso was sentenced to two years of probation on the burglary charge; he entered a "cold plea" for armed violence, which has a punishment of six to 30 years in prison and no chance of probation. If he completes drug court, prosecutors could vacate or dismiss the guilty plea, but an overdose could get him kicked out and subject to prison.
The county's drug court is an intensive program for nonviolent addicts facing severe criminal charges and substantial prison terms.
At the time of his arrest last year, Caruso was on parole for a July 2015 felony charge of possession of a controlled substance in which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to boot camp.
It was not immediately known if the warrant had been served or the date of Caruso's next scheduled court appearance.