Evergreen Park Man Hides Crack In Mouth: POLICE

EVERGREEN PARK, IL -- An Evergreen Park man was arrested during a traffic stop after police noticed he had what turned out to be a small bag of crack hidden in the roof of his mouth, prosecutors said. Kestutis Tatoris, 66, appeared before Cook County Judge Peter Felice on a charge of possession of a controlled substance. He also has another pending drug case, in which the prosecutor said he was arrested under similar circumstances.

According to the charges, Tatoris was pulled over near 87th Street and Central Park Avenue around 6:30 p.m. Nov. 28 because he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. The prosecutor said Tatoris appeared to be shaking, when the officer noticed a plastic bag in Tatoris’s mouth. Tatoris allegedly admitted that he had been on Damen Avenue to buy crack.

The prosecutor said Tatoris had been arrested on Nov. 9, when crack was found in his car after he had been pulled over in Evergreen Park for not wearing a seatbelt. The assistant public defender told the judge that Tatoris had been arrested by the same Evergreen Park police officer.

“And your suggestion is,” Felice asked.

“I’m not even going to go there,” the assistant public defender said. “It is a coincidence.”

A violation of bail bond was filed. The judge set bail at $100,000. He also ordered Tatoris to submit to random drug testing if he bonds out. Tatoris is due back in court Dec. 5 in Bridgeview.

“It’s kind of sad to see at 66-year-old man doing drugs,” Felice said. “He needs help. I don’t want to see him dead.”