'He Told Officers They Would Find Various Pills, Ketamine And Cocaine Inside His Bedroom:' Prosecutors Reveal

JOLIET, IL — Daniel Stern, the 37-year-old Joliet man arrested last week by the Joliet police in connection with a U.S. Postal Service drug investigation at his house in the 900 block of Lilac Lane, will remain in the Will County Jail under the SAFE-T-Act, Will County's judicial system has ruled.

"After being given his Miranda warnings, defendant initially stated he wanted to speak to a lawyer and then quickly wished to cooperate and told officers they would find various pills, ketamine, and cocaine inside his bedroom," the Will County State's Attorney's Office revealed in last week's petition to deny pretrial release.

According to the Will County State's Attorney's Office, back on July 20, special agent Mendez was contacted by U.S. Postal Inspection service inspector Weis about an intercepted package that was to be delivered to the defendant. The package was a white 12 1/2 inch by 9 1/2-inch USPS priority mail envelope weighing 6.185 ounces.

Court files indicate that the envelope was opened by federal warrant and found to have a whitish and almost translucent powder that field tested positive for the presence of ketamine.

An anticipatory search warrant was then signed for the designated residence on the package for Lilac Lane in Joliet, as well as an order to place a GPS tracker and wire break sensor inside. On July 22, as police officers began surveilling 916 Lilac Lane, they saw the defendant return to the residence and go inside. Approximately 15 minutes after defendant arrived at the residence, the officers delivered this packaged addressed to defendant as well as a 2-package addressed to defendant at the same address.

Approximately 30 mins after the packages were delivered, officers observed the defendant exiting the residence, retrieving both packages and reentering the residence. Approximately five minutes after surveillance units were notified, the white envelope was opened due to the wire break sensor, court documents show.

Officers entered the residence, located Stern and one other person. Defendant was in a bedroom and the special agents they said saw the defendant stick his head out a window on the north side of the residence and throw a brown box outside the window.

Located from outside the window, prosecutors revealed were the following contents:

• Two clear vacuum sealed bags containing a white powder substance suspected cocaine weighing 250.25 grams

Prosecutors said the following items were located from inside the bedroom where Stern was located:

• Suspected ketamine previously tested by USPIS weighing 135 grams
• Multiple clear plastic baggies of suspected cocaine.
• MDMA weighing 158 grams, field test positive
• Ketamine weighing 72 grams, field test positive
• 1,166 green and white pills of suspected Xanax weighing 349.99 grams
• 821 white oval pills of suspected Hydrocodone weighing 304 grams
• 320 white round pills of suspected Percocet weighing 54.4 grams
• 11,041 orange pills of suspected Methamphetamine weighing 4,527 grams
• Multiple vacuumed sealed bags containing a green leafy substance weighing 5,090 grams
• Multiple vacuum sealed bags containing mushrooms suspected to be psilocybin weighing 695 grams
• Various amounts of money
• A black and orange scale
• Multiple forms of proof of residency

Stern will be returned to the Will County Courthouse in his orange jail jumpsuit, along with shackles and handcuffs on Sept. 24 for his next pretrial. He's in Courtroom 405 of Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak now.