Felon who police said hid cocaine in his underwear during Woodstock arrest pleads guilty, gets 7 years IDOC

A felon arrested in Woodstock while allegedly hiding 16.4 grams of cocaine in his underwear pleaded guilty Friday and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Terry R. Pugh, 34, of Chicago, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver 15 to 100 grams of cocaine, a Class X felony, according to the judgment order filed in McHenry County court.

Pugh is required to serve half his prison term, after which he must serve 18 months of mandatory supervised release. He will receive credit for 462 days served in the county jail, the order said.

In exchange for his guilty plea, additional charges of unlawful cocaine possession and obstructing a police officer were dismissed, the order said.

On June 22, 2022, McHenry County detectives made a traffic stop on a vehicle Pugh was driving in Woodstock. His attorney argued in a motion to quash the arrest and any discovery allegedly found during the arrest because it was not legal.

A motion filed by prosecutors in response argued it was a valid traffic stop and the search of the vehicle was legal. The detective smelled marijuana emanating from the car, and Pugh’s passenger gave the detective a baggie of marijuana, the motion said. The motion further said the arrest was valid due to Pugh’s “refusal to comply” with a pat-down search.

During the pat-down, in which detectives found Pugh was wearing pants and long underwear despite it being about 85 to 90 degrees, police said he resisted being searched. Police found “several hundreds of dollars of cash on his person.”

During the p, a detective said Pugh allegedly “pulled away multiple times then began thrashing” and attempting to pull away as a detective attempted to check his groin area, the motion said.

During the arrest, detectives were “aware that [Pugh] had been the subject of multiple arrests for and tips regarding his possession and sale of crack cocaine,” the state’s response said.

Detectives also were aware that “individuals will often hide narcotics in their underwear,” the motion said.

Pugh was arrested after allegedly obstructing the pat-down and was taken to McHenry County jail. He was put through the Tek84 body scanner “where an anomaly was observed in his groin area,” the court documents state. He then was strip-searched, resulting in police allegedly finding a plastic bag containing 16.4 grams of cocaine, the motion said.

In 2013, Pugh was charged along with five others with calculated criminal conspiracy, Class X felony, among other drug-related charges, court records show. Pugh was reportedly placed on McHenry County’s Most Wanted List. In 2015, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison, a judgment order in the court said.