Police: Woman overdosing in back seat of car

A Lake County deputy pulling a vehicle over Sunday afternoon found a woman in the midst of a heroin overdose in the back seat in Volo.

The driver of the 2009 Jeep Compass was preparing to give 22-year-old Melody Pratt of Trevor, Wis., an adrenaline shot to bring her out of the overdose when the vehicle was pulled over, said Lake County Sheriff’s Sgt. Timothy Jonites.

“They were swerving all over the road,” Jonites said.

An ambulance picked Pratt up on Route 120 at Route 60 at about 3:05 p.m. and transported her to Northern Illinois Medical Center, Jonites said.

The driver, Aaron B. Stoen, 23, of Twin Lakes, Wis., told the responding deputy that he was a full-time firefighter for the Kenosha Fire Department, but a call to that department proved this was a lie, Jonites said.

“He was going to inject the girl with Narcane,” Jonites said. “It is not something he should be in possession of. It is something usually medical personnel have with them.”

The drug is commonly used to bring someone out of an overdose almost immediately, Jonites said.

Twelve bags of heroin were found in the Jeep, which was seized by police, police said.

Stoen and the front-seat passenger, 21-year-old Thomas Wojitowicz of Twin Lakes, are being held at the Lake County jail on charges of possession of heroin and possession with the intent to deliver, Jonites said.

Stoen was also charged with false personation of a firefighter and aggravated driving DUI for driving while high on heroin, police said.

Wojitowicz told police the group had purchased the drugs in Chicago and were headed back to Wisconsin, Jonites said.

Pratt will likely be charged with possession and possession with the intent to deliver when she is released from the hospital, Jonites said.

Stoen and Wojitowicz are due in bond court Monday.