2 people arrested in Grundy County in connection with possessing 3 kilograms of fentanyl

Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley and state Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, are seeking reforms to the SAFE-T Act after police arrested two suspects during a traffic stop the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 24, after finding 3 kilograms of fentanyl.

The Grundy County Sheriff’s Office charged the suspects, Christian Erazo-Velazquez and Roybin Barahona, with delivery of a controlled substance, aggravated fleeing or eluding an officer traveling 21 miles or more above the speed limit, and resisting or obstructing an officer, according to a police report obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by The Morris Herald-News.

According to a Wednesday news release, the SAFE-T Act required officials to hold a pretrial release hearing within 48 hours of the arrest.

“Before the hearing, Grundy County officials confirmed that both suspects were Honduran nationals, with one having an immigration detainer warrant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” according to the release. “At the hearing, the local state’s attorney requested detention for both suspects due to the severity of the charges.”

The court granted one detention request based on the outstanding warrant and criminal history, and the other suspect was released because he had no criminal history available within the 48-hour hearing window.

California authorities informed Grundy County that the released suspect, an 18-year-old, had a juvenile record that would have led to his detention, according to the sheriff’s office.

Briley and Rezin are calling for reforms to the SAFE-T Act that would alter the 48-hour pretrial release hearing requirement. Rezin said she is exploring legislation that would make the possession of fentanyl a Class X felony that would be detainable, putting the burden of the pretrial release on the defendant instead of the state’s attorney’s office and a judge.

“According to the [Drug Enforcement Agency], the amount of fentanyl seized in this arrest is enough to kill 1.5 million people,” Rezin said. “This terrifying statistic underscores the real dangers that our communities face from this trafficked poison. The pretrial release of this suspect highlights the critical gaps that remain in the SAFE-T Act that must be addressed to ensure our local law enforcement and judicial system have all of the tools they need to protect the public.”

Ben Ruddell, the Director of Criminal Justice Policy for the ACLU of Illinois, said Rezin is distorting the meaning of the Pretrial Fairness Act.

“Let’s be clear about the facts,” Ruddell said. “The requirement that an arrested person appear before a judge within 48 hours is a constitutional standard that was in place before the Pretrial Fairness Act went into effect. In fact, the current law allows prosecutors to request additional time, up to 48 hours, to prepare for a detention hearing. No such request was made in this case.”

Ruddell said the Pretrial Fairness Act, which eliminated the use of cash bail in Illinois, allows prosecutors to file a second petition encompassing new facts that were not available at the time of initial filing.

“Senator Rezin’s proposal to make Class X offenses presumptively detainable is clearly unconstitutional,” Ruddell said. “The Illinois Supreme Court already has invalidated this approach. In Illinois, the presumption of innocence requires that the state always carries the burden of proving why someone must be jailed awaiting trial.”

Briley said the incident shows the urgent need to give law enforcement and state’s attorneys more time to gather relevant information before deciding on pretrial releases.

“The current requirements under the SAFE-T Act limit our ability to fully assess a suspect’s background, which opens the door for the release of potentially dangerous individuals,” Briley said. “Allowing more time would ensure that we have the evidence needed to make informed and responsible decisions that protect our communities.”

Ruddell said Briley and Rezin are taking an unserious approach to the public safety, and further attempting to blame the Pretrial Fairness Act.

Kyle Klukas, the First Assistant State’s Attorney, said he could have asked for a continuance to obtain more information, but he didn’t feel there was a need as he was not going to be able to get more information on Barahona, who was released. Barahona is 18-years-old, and was listed as missing in the State of California.

“He was just turned 18, so there’s issues with the juvenile records,” Klukas said. “We weren’t going to get those in 48 hours. As a practical matter, it was going to take a lot longer than that to get any kind of information if he had a juvenile record.”

Klukas said there weren’t any further obligations to return Barahona to California, only that he was listed missing from Oakland.

“It’d be nice if we had more time to be able to get these things,” Klukas said. “I think after that, it’s the SAFE-T Act that allows us to have a hearing to ask to detain them. We file a motion where we put all of the facts as we know them in the case, we put our arguments to them. Then the judge makes the decision if he thinks the person is a risk to the public or himself, or a specific person.”

For receiving records, the Klukas said the issue arises that records departments typically only work Monday to Friday. Since the arrest was made on a Thursday and the trial was on a Friday, the time the county was able to detain Barahona would’ve run out.