December 12, 2003
About half the people who showed up for the morning call
at Lakehurst Traffic Court on Thursday got there illegally.
What they probably didn't expect was that they'd get
caught.
The Lake County sheriff's office and Waukegan Police
Department conducted an undercover sting operation to crack
down on scofflaw drivers who have revoked or suspended
licenses but continue to get behind the wheel. Dozens of
police officers and reserves took part in the three-hour
crackdown.
Only about 20 of the 60 people scheduled to come to court
actually showed up there. Of those, nine attempted to drive
away without a valid license.
"We are hoping to let people know that when they have
lost the privilege to drive, they need to stop driving,"
said Lake County Sheriff Gary Del Re. "They just seem to
thumb their nose at the judicial system.
"They just don't seem to take this very seriously."
A Chicago Sun-Times campaign in 2001 and 2002 dubbed "Why
Is He Driving?" showed how hundreds of people were leaving
court appearances on charges of driving with a suspended
license, only to get back behind the wheel -- usually
minutes after telling a judge they would stop.
It was no different Thursday.
All of the targeted drivers were appearing before Lake
County Associate Circuit Court Judge Theodore S. Potkonjak
to answer to charges of driving with a suspended license.
After entering pleas in their cases or asking for more time,
the judge told each that they weren't allowed to drive.
Not everyone paid attention.
As undercover police officers watched each unlicensed
driver leave the courtroom and enter a vehicle, they called
ahead to a fleet of squad cars that would then quickly pull
over the person.
Their cars were towed away and, under a Waukegan city
ordinance, held in a lockup until the owner came up with a
$500 fine.
The stops were done with precision speed -- each taking
less than five minutes -- so that no one caught on to the
sting.
The drivers arrested were:
*Evelyn C. Flora, 28, of Racine, Wis., charged with
driving on a revoked license and operating a vehicle without
insurance.
*Daisy R. Flora, 24, of Racine, charged with driving
while license suspended.
*Jeremy Comerasamy, 32, of Chicago, charged with driving
while license suspended.
*Cary Rose III, 37, of Racine, charged with driving while
license suspended.
*Ignacio Fernandez, 26, of Kenosha, Wis., charged with
driving while license suspended.
*Jackie Price, 24, of North Chicago, charged with driving
while license suspended.
*Jeffrey P. Wollert, 46, of Kenosha, charged with driving
while license suspended.
*James D. Thomas, 39, of Kenosha, charged with driving
while license suspended.
*Salvador Gomez, 22, of Waukegan, charged with driving
while license suspended and failure to wear a seat belt.
Thursday's sting to nab unlicensed drivers was the fourth
of its kind in Lake County since 2002. The previous three
netted 34 vehicles and resulted in 66 citations. Similar
operations in Cook County have resulted in hundreds of
arrests.
"This is something that we are going to keep on doing
until we can get the message out," Del Re said.
