Feds assist in arrest of more suspects in county drug operation, sheriff says

More than 100 pounds of cocaine, guns and $25,000 in cash were seized Monday night during the arrest of four people to crack a major Lake County drug operation, sheriff’s police said Tuesday.

Raids at houses in the 40000 block of Route 45 and the 37000 block of Sterns School Road in unincorporated Lake Villa, as well as a traffic stop on Hunt Club Road near Route 173, netted the windfall for authorities, Lt. Christopher Thompson said.

Assistance from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration led to the arrest of four suspects police believed are involved in the same operation as a man who was arrested Sunday night after a traffic stop, Thompson said.

Hector Velez-Rodriguez, 30; Cesar Figueroa, 45; Rigoberto Duran-Aguilar, 27; and Jose Torres, 28, are all charged with crimes that could send them to prison for up to 60 years.

Thompson said the arrest of Pedro Valdovinos, 19, of Bolingbrook, after a Sunday night traffic stop on the Tri-State Tollway was the first takedown of the operation.

Valdovinos was found to be carrying 33 pounds of cocaine worth $405,000 on the street, Thompson said, and refused to cooperate with investigators seeking to question him.

Nonetheless, Thompson said, investigators from the sheriff’s office and federal agents used Valdovinos’ arrest as the jumping-off point for the Monday night actions.

Police struck first at the Route 45 address, where Thompson said they recovered a pound of marijuana, a small amount of cocaine, $21,000 in cash, two pistols and a rifle.

No one was arrested there, Thompson said, but police moved on to the Sterns School Road address where they found a little more than 81 pounds of cocaine, $4,000 in cash, a pistol and a rifle.

Velez-Rodriguez, of the Sterns School Road address, and Figueroa, of the Route 45 address, were taken into custody during the raid on Sterns School Road, Thompson said.

Police then stopped a car they believed to be connected to the ring at Hunt Club Road near Route 173, Thompson said.

Duran-Aguilar, of Glendale Heights, and Torres, of Rockford, were taken into custody during the traffic stop, Thompson said, and another 22 pounds of cocaine was confiscated.

Including the cocaine taken from Valdovinos, the street value of all the confiscated drugs approaches $1.7 million, officials said.

Velez-Rodriguez and Figueroa are held on $100,000 bond, while bond was set for Torres and Duran-Aguilar at $250,000.

All four of the suspects arrested Monday night are due in court Feb. 17.