Witness details alleged Lake Co. drug deal
Mathew Kaiser said Thursday he began to get nervous as soon as he heard a body had been found in the parking lot outside the Libertyville pet store where he worked.
Testifying in the murder trial of Clifford Powers, Kaiser was one of the architects of a drug deal that brought Powers together with Kaiser's friend, Bernard Soya of Deerfield.
Powers, 21, who lived in Antioch at the time, is charged with first degree murder for gunning down Soya on Nov. 6, 2006 rather than pay $2,450 for a half-pound of marijuana Soya had come to sell.
Kaiser said he and Luke Shaw of Gages Lake, an acquaintance of Powers, had acted as the go-between for Powers and Soya but did not attend the meeting to make the deal.
Kaiser said he did not know when and where Powers and Soya planned to meet, but a body outside his place of employment was too coincidental for his comfort.
"I was concerned right away that it might have been Bernie," he testified Thursday. "I started calling people to see if anyone had seen him."
Kaiser said he had gone to a concert the night before the body was found, and had received a phone call from somebody calling himself "Cliff."
Kaiser, who said he had never met Powers, said the caller seemed confused and was wondering if he and Shaw were going to attend his meeting with Soya.
"I told him no, that I was not going to be there," Kaiser said. "I told him it was up to him and Bernie to work things out."
Although he said he tried most of the day to contact Soya or someone who had seen him that day, Kaiser said it was the evening of Nov. 7 before he actually learned what had happened.
He said he had left his house in Highland Park with a friend and had driven a few blocks when squad cars pulled them over.
The police explained they were investigating Soya's murder, Kaiser said, and he provided a statement about his role in arranging the drug deal.
Powers is facing a prison sentence of at least 45 years if he is convicted of Soya's murder.
Testimony is expected to continue today.