3 years in prison for man in South Elgin heroin distribution ring
A 27-year-old Hampshire man who was one of five people arrested in a South Elgin heroin distribution ring has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Nathan C. Lake, of the 44W0-99 block of Clark Road, pleaded guilty late last week to a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance and received the top sentence for that crime in the plea accepted by Kane County Judge Kathryn Karayannis, according to court records.
Prosecutors dismissed more severe charges as part of the plea agreement.
Lake and four others were arrested in June 2017 after authorities executed a search warrant for a house on the 1200 block of Sandhurst Court, where they seized 27 grams of heroin, some of which tested positive for fentanyl, a lethal additive. Authorities also seized 100 grams of marijuana in the bust.
When he was arrested, Lake had recently completed probation he received in January 2014 after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 16-year-old from St. Charles in a January 2013 arrest, records show. Lake was sentenced to 171 days in jail and three years of probation after pleading guilty to aggravated battery in a public place and aggravated criminal sexual abuse to a victim 13 to 17 years old, records show.
Clarence J. Sanders, of Chicago, pleaded guilty in February 2018 to heroin charges and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Another defendant, Darius L. Douglas, of the 1100 block of Manchester Court, South Elgin, was accepted into the county's drug court program in which nonviolent defendants facing substantial prison time may plead guilty, enter the intensive program and have the charges dismissed if they stay out of trouble. Douglas served 25 days in jail and has entered drug rehab, records show.
Cases against two other defendants, Kieere Evans, 22, and Darian L. Williams, 30, both of the 1200 block of Sandhurst Lane, South Elgin, are pending.
Evans is next due in court April 10 on charges of felony marijuana possession. He also faces burglary charges from November 2016, records show. The top punishments on those cases are 5 and 15 years in prison, but both crimes are eligible for probation as well.
Williams is due in court April 12 on heroin charge, which carries a top punishment of seven years in prison. He also was on probation from a previous cocaine possession case when he was arrested in 2017, records show.