Crest Hill Man May Lose His 2014 Subaru Outback After Menard's Incident: Civil Forfeiture

CREST HILL, IL — The Will County State's Attorney's Office continues to file more civil forfeiture complaints in the hopes of confiscating vehicles belonging to people whose automobiles may have been used to perpetrate criminal activity across Will County. On Wednesday, Jim Glasgow filed a forfeiture against Crest Hill Kenneth Ewell, who lives in an apartment unit on Pasadena Avenue. The forfeiture aims to turn Ewell's 2014 Subaru Outback into a forfeited asset for the police.

No criminal charges are on file at the Will County Courthouse against Ewell.

According to the forfeiture, Officer Williams of Crest Hill Police responded to the Menards in Crest Hill on South Weber Road back on Feb. 18 in reference to a retail theft. The store manager advised the officer that two men walked out of the entrance without paying for three items totaling $1,428.

While exiting with the stolen merchandise, the front-end service desk cashier requested a receipt from the two men, and they ignored her and swiftly ran out the front door. They loaded the items into a blue Subaru Outback without closing the trunk, as they sped off, two items fell out of the open trunk, the forfeiture noted.

Security camera images and footage were provided by Menards to Crest Hill police showing the two shoplifters enter the store at 8:07 p.m. and walking around the store collecting items in a shopping cart and finally walking out the main entrance and back to the Subaru parked in the fire lane in front of the main entrance. The Subaru's registration came back to Kenneth Ewell of Crest Hill, and it was entered into a police LEADS database as a wanted vehicle.

A few days later, Joliet police conducted a traffic stop on Feb. 21 at 1401 West Jefferson Street and the vehicle was occupied by three people, driven by the registered owner, Ewell, court files show.

According to the forfeiture, the Subaru Outback "was used to transport the offenders to and from the location where the retail theft and burglary took place and to conceal and transport the stolen property and the stolen property had a value of over $1,300."

Ewell will learn whether his Subaru Outback should become a seized asset for the police on May 13.