Pair nabbed in Naperville with suitcase full of pot
BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com December 11, 2012 9:32PM
Charles W. Scott, 42, of Chicago, remains in custody at DuPage County Jail, after he and another man were allegedly caught by Naperville police with a suitcase full of marijuana valued at $60,000. | Courtesy of DuPage County Sheriff's Office
Updated: January 13, 2013 11:19AM
Two men remained Tuesday night in DuPage County Jail on $250,000 bail, after Naperville police allegedly caught them transporting a suitcase full of “medical-grade” marijuana valued at $60,000.
Jimmie L. Medcalf, 29, and Charles W. Scott, 42, both of Chicago, face trial on felony charges of cannabis trafficking and the manufacture or delivery of more than 2,000 but not more than 5,000 grams of marijuana, according to records on file in DuPage County Circuit Court in Wheaton.
Scott and Medcalf were arrested about 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot of the Metra Railway Fourth Avenue commuter train station at 105 E. Fourth Ave. north of downtown Naperville, police Sgt. Lou Cammiso said.
Members of the department’s Special Operations Group acted on a tip they recently received from a law enforcement agency in California that Cammiso declined to identify. An informant to that agency “related there’d be a shipment of drugs” aboard an Amtrak train bound for the Naperville depot, Cammiso said Tuesday.
Police were given Medcalf’s name and physical description, as well as the number of the train on which he was traveling and its estimated arrival time in Naperville, Cammiso said. Detectives were waiting in the station’s parking lot “and observed the subject who matched Medcalf’s description” exiting the train, he said.
The officers approached Medcalf and asked him if his first name was Jimmie, Cammiso said. Medcalf said it was not, “and when the officers said they wanted to talk to him further, he took off running,” Cammiso said.
Medcalf was captured in the parking lot after a brief chase. Cammiso said Scott was identified as being his alleged accomplice and was found soon thereafter “waiting in a car for him.”
Cammiso said Medcalf brought with him on the train a suitcase or similarly large travel bag. Police discovered it contained seven pounds of “medical-grade” marijuana with a street sale value Cammiso estimated at $60,000.
An examination of court documents indicated neither Medcalf nor Scott has a criminal record in DuPage, Kane or Will counties. Their arraignments are scheduled for Tuesday.
