35 Bags Of Crack Found On Teen Wanted Over Stolen Car, Police Say

SKOKIE, IL — A West Side resident who turned 18 last month was arrested Wednesday in Skokie and accused of driving a stolen car and drug dealing.

Kyle Escoe, 18, of the 4600 block of West Ohio Street, had an active warrant for his arrest when officers were dispatched to a call about a parking violation in the 4800 block of Greenleaf Avenue, according to police and prosecutors.

When they arrived, police found Escoe walking toward the vehicle, asked him for identifying information and ran it through a law enforcement database, Assistant State's Attorney Alexzandria Johnson said at the teen's initial court appearance.

Police immediately discovered Escoe was wanted for possession of a stolen motor vehicle in connection with an incident last month.

On Dec. 27, officers reviewed surveillance footage from the Lincolnwood Town Center showing Escoe driving a Volvo SUV that had been stolen from the 4400 block of Oakton Street on Christmas Eve, Johnson said.

Video from the 3333 W. Touhy Ave. shopping center showed Escoe and two accomplices walking around the mall, according to the prosecutor.

Escoe also allegedly posted pictures of himself in the stolen car online.

"Officers obtained access to [his] social media account from Snapchat," Johnson said.

Images posted to his account show off the interior compartment of a car that is "substantially similar" to the stolen Volvo, she said.

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After Escoe was taken into custody on the warrant, handcuffed and driven to the Skokie Police Department Wednesday, officers conducted a search.

Johnson said officers found a large plastic bag in his waistband with 35 individually wrapped pieces of a white rock-like substance. Each bag weight about 0.2 grams for a total of about a quarter of an ounce.

"Officers asked [Escoe] what the substance was and [he] told them that the substance was crack," Johnson said.

Before turning 18, Escoe was twice petitioned delinquent in juvenile court and sentenced to more than a year of detention, prosecutors said, first for a firearm charge and later for a previous charge of possession of a stolen vehicle.

Prosecutors are now pursuing charges of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle.

Assistant Public Defender Vanessa Ficaro said Escoe is a lifelong Chicago resident, currently unemployed and the father of a 2-year-old child.

Escoe was ordered to remain detained Cook County Jail ahead of trial unless he comes up with the $10,000 cash portion of his bond. He is due back in court