Streator man to remain in jail after drug bust

Moments before drug agents placed him under arrest, Caprecio Patterson allegedly reached into a pocket and tossed away the contents. Drug agents found a baggie of crack cocaine.

Trying to dispose of that baggie proved costly, as a La Salle County judge Thursday decided that made the Streator man a flight risk.

Patterson will stay in the La Salle County Jail while awaiting trial on four felonies.

To say drugs are bad and are a danger to the public is not a specific, articulable fact, as outlined by the SAFE-T Act.”

—  Ryan Hamer, La Salle County public defender

Patterson was picked up earlier this week on a warrant charging him with a pair of October drug deliveries in Streator.

Prosecutors said that although other individuals handed off the methamphetamine in exchange for cash, Patterson arranged the deals and sat nearby in a Ford F-150 that he used to bring his couriers to and from the deals.

He incurred two more charges after drug agents served him with the arrest warrant and saw him toss away a baggie, prosecutors said. That led to later charges of possession and obstruction of justice.

On Thursday, Patterson appeared for a detention hearing in La Salle County Circuit Court.

Prosecutor Laura Hall asked a judge to hold Patterson in the La Salle County Jail, citing an “extremely lengthy criminal history” that is “filled with drug offenses.”

Hall said Patterson scored poorly on a risk assessment, and Patterson was out on bond for a still-pending drug offense in 2021 – and he was on parole at the time of that offense.

In response, public defender Ryan Hamer said Patterson’s admittedly lengthy criminal record contained no violent offenses – save for a long-ago battery – and the alleged meth deals happened five months ago, undercutting the state’s contention that Patterson poses an imminent danger to individuals or society as a whole.

“To say drugs are bad and are a danger to the public is not a specific, articulable fact, as outlined by the SAFE-T Act,” Hamer said.

But Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. took a deeper look into Patterson’s record and spotted multiple arrests for aggravated fleeing, eluding and resisting a peace officer. Coupled with Patterson’s alleged attempt to discard the purported crack cocaine, Ryan ruled that these offenses demonstrated a risk of flight if Patterson were let out of custody.

Patterson again will appear after a grand jury reviews his charges March 26.

Patterson faces up to 30 years in prison, with no possibility of probation, if convicted of an Oct. 12 delivery in Streator.

At that time, a courier reportedly under Patterson’s direction took $450 from a buyer and directed the buyer to a fast-food cup containing almost 28 grams (0.06 pounds) of methamphetamine, prosecutors said.

He faces lesser but still serious counts in connection with an Oct. 5 controlled buy in which cash was exchanged for meth and for the crack cocaine he tried to discard before being taken into custody, prosecutors said.