South Suburban DUI Arrests, March 25

March 18: Theaier Kartoum, 23, of the 7900 block of Nagle in Burbank, was charged with drunken driving and driving without insurance. Kartoum was stopped at 1:19 a.m. for not wearing a seat belt, police said. He failed a breath test and was not able to produce insurance information, police said.

March 17: Ryan Wayne, 26, of the 8100 block of Binford Drive in Orland Park, was charged with drunken driving. He was stopped at 12:10 a.m. for speeding and showed signs that he had been drinking, police said. Wayne failed a breath test, police said.

March 16: Jesse Zaragoz, 51, of the 7400 block of 157th Street in Orland Park, was charged with drunken driving and driving without insurance. At 12:08 a.m. he was stopped at a DUI checkpoint and failed a breath test, police said.

March 16: Lamont Simms, 47, of the 14500 block of Green Street in Harvey, was charged with retail theft. Simms was arrested at Dominick’s, 6401 W. 127th Street, for attempting to take a bottle of liquor, police said.

March 16: Gabriel Patton, 26, of the 9100 block of Bell in Chicago, was charged with drunken driving. He was stopped at 2:01 a.m. at 129th Street and Harlem Avenue after swerving over the lane line and subsequently failed field sobriety tests, police said.

March 14: Tiffany Wrobleski, 37, of the 1200 block of Home Avenue in Berwyn, was charged with drunken driving. She was stopped at 3:57 a.m. and failed field sobriety tests, police said.

March 14: Michael Youchison, 25, of the 7200 block of Sholer in Bridgeview, was charged with drunken driving and driving without insurance. He was stopped for speeding at 12:30 a.m. and showed signs of being drunk, police said.

March 17: Eric Shuler, 45, of the 17700 block of Cypress Avenue in Country Club Hills, was charged with driving under the influence, failure to yield and no valid registration. Police said they stopped Shuler’s car near Western Avenue and 183rd Street around 12:30 a.m. for cutting off another car while turning through the intersection. He was arrested after failing field sobriety and breath tests, according to the report.

March 17: Brett Marcotte, 54, of the 13900 block of Waterbury Drive in Crestwood, was charged with DUI. Police said Marcotte failed field sobriety and breath tests after they found him asleep in his car, with the engine running, in the 18300 block of Western Avenue around 2 a.m.

March 17: Gerald Puhrmann, 51, of the 17500 block of the Dundee Avenue in Homewood, was charged with DUI and improper lane usage. Police said they stopped Puhrmann’s car near Hawthorne Road and Dixie Highway around 11:45 p.m. for swerving into oncoming traffic. He was arrested after failing field sobriety and breath tests, according to the report.

March 14: Heriberto Ruiz, 45, of the 16700 block of Hazelwood Drive in Plainfield, was charged with driving under the influence, speeding, improper lane usage, driving while license is suspended and illegal transportation of open alcohol. Police said they stopped Ruiz in the 17700 block of Halsted Street around 1 a.m. for speeding and weaving in and out of lanes. According to the report, Ruiz failed both field sobriety test and breath tests after officers found a spilled 12-ounce bottle of beer in the back of his car.

March 11: John J. Tongson, 23, of the 7600 block of 163 rd Place in Tinley Park was charged with driving under the influence and BAC of 0.08 or more. Police said Tongson failed field sobriety and breath tests after stopping his car outside the Georgio’s Comfort Inn around 4 a.m. for driving over a grassy area to get to the back of the hotel parking lot.

March 8: Rosemarie A. Meegan, 21, of the 16000 block of Haven Avenue in Orland Hills was charged with DUI, BAC of 0.08 or more, operating an uninsured motor vehicle and improper lane usage. Police said Meegan failed field sobriety and breath tests after stopping her car in her driveway around 4:30 a.m. for crossing into oncoming traffic lanes and making abrupt lane changes.

March 2: Haley A. Mason, 30, of the 1300 block of McDowell Road in Naperville was charged with DUI. Police said Mason failed field sobriety tests after she was found sleeping behind the wheel of her car in the 15900 block of 91st Avenue around 2 a.m. with the engine running. A caller told police Mason’s car had been blocking a driveway.

March 17: Rita Fitzpatrick, 59, of River Forest, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and running a red light. Police say Fitzpatrick ran the light at Cedar Road and Hickory Street at about 9:50 p.m. She was given traffic tickets.

March 16: Joseph Walczak, 24, of Mokena, was charged with driving under the influence of marijuana and improper lane use. He was given traffic tickets.

March 12: A New Lenox teen was charged with his second DUI in just over a week this month. Kyle Smolucka, 19, of the 2800 block of Rydall Street in New Lenox, was charged with possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana and driving under the influence of marijuana. Police responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle in the 200 block of Prairie Road at about 11:24 p.m. Monday, March 12. According to reports, police spoke with the driver, Smolucka, and discovered he was under the influence of marijuana. It was the second arrest for Smolucka in just over a week. On March 4, he was stopped by Will County police in Jackson and , illegal consumption of alcohol by minor, illegal parking and possession of fake drivers license.

March 10: Carrie B. Behrens, 24, of the 2500 block of Farmview Road in New Lenox was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, failure to reduce speed to avoid accident and illegal transportation of alcohol. Police said they smelled alcohol on Behrens’ breath around 1 a.m. while investigating a two-car accident in the 9300 block of 159th Street, in which she was involved. Behrens was arrested after refusing to take field sobriety tests, and officers found an open bottle of Bacardi Limon in her car before towing, according to the report.

March 6: Christopher L. Keogh, 37, of the 17100 block of 145th Street in Lockport was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol level greater than .08 and improper lane usage. Police said Keogh failed field sobriety and breath tests after speaking with him in a parking lot in the 9700 block of 151st Street around 6:45 p.m. A witness told police Keogh’s car had been “all over the roadway,” according to the report.

March 19: David C. Cronin, 31, of the 8800 block of West 169th Street in Orland Hills, was arrested around 2:20 a.m. in the 7500 block of 159th Street in Tinley Park. Police said Cronin was driving abruptly across lane lines. He reportedly failed field sobriety tests but refused the Breathalyzer test at the station. He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and improper lane use.

March 7: Local officers followed a driver earlier this month after they saw she and her fellow underage friends get into a car with brown paper bags they believed contained alcohol, police said. The green Buick Lasabre left from Tinley Family Food and Liquor, 6800 183rd St. just after 11 p.m. March 7, according to the report. There, officers said they watched driver Shannon E. Davis, 18, and two of her friends, receive alcohol purchased by a “middle-aged woman.” When they stopped her, her eyes were bloodshot and watery, they said. Davis failed field sobriety tests and was taken into custody, police said. During a search of her vehicle, police found a brown paper bag with a 24-ounce can of Mike’s Hard Lemonade in it, a 24-ounce can of Mike’s Hard Cranberry Lemonade and an opened 24-ounce Coors Light, the report said. David blew a .93 on the Breathalyzer, police said, and was charged with improper lane use, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol content greater than 0.08 and illegal transportation of alcohol. Her bail was set at $1,000.

March 9, Tinley Cops Bust ‘Designated Driver’ for DUI: Police arrested a man who told officers he was the night’s “designated driver” — and charged him with DUI. They arrested Keith R. Houda, 27, no address given, around 1:50 a.m. March 9. He was stopped near the intersection of 171st and LaGrange Road after police saw him cruising over lane lines, nearly striking the curb on the side of the roadway, according to the report.

March 4: Evergreen Park Police stopped a car at 5:23 a.m. at 91st Street and Turner Avenue because it “looked suspicious.” Police stopped the car after it switched several lanes without signaling, reports said. According to reports, the driver, John M. Tiffany Jr., 22, of Evergreen Park, failed all field sobriety tests and blew .16 on the Breathalyzer, double the legal limit. Tiffany was charged with driving under the influence, driving under the influence with .08 or higher blood alcohol content level, failure to signal when required, improper lane usage and given a municipal violation for driving under the influence and the tow of his car.

Feb. 26: A man suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol was found asleep behind the wheel, according to police reports. Evergreen Park Police said they found Ronald L. Faizon Jr., 43, of Chicago, asleep at a traffic light at the intersection of 95th Street and California Avenue at 4:43 a.m. on Feb. 26, after receiving a call of a suspicious car sitting in traffic. According to reports, Faizon had been sitting in the same spot for more than five minutes, with the car in drive. Faizon failed all field sobriety tests, and blew .169 on the Breathalyzer, police said—more than two times the legal limit. Faizon was charged with driving under the influence, driving under the influence with a blood alcohol content over .08, obstructing traffic, failure to wear a seat belt, and issued a citation for local ordinance for the tow of his car.

March 17: Juan C. Aldama, 35, of the 17100 block of 71st Avenue in Oak Forest was charged with driving under the influence, failure to reduce speed to avoid accident, no insurance and no driver’s license. Police said Aldama rear-ended another car at 163rd Street and Central Avenue around 11 p.m. and was wobbling during questioning, smelling of alcohol. Officers could not administer field sobriety tests because, according to the report, Aldama doesn’t speak English—though he was able to tell them in Spanish how beers he had drank that night before failing a Breathalyzer.



March 15: Nancy Jo Dwyer, 55, of the 11300 block of West 193rd Street in Mokena, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, illegal transportation of alcohol and improper lane use after a traffic stop near the intersection of Harlem Avenue and Sauk Trail. Her court date is April 3.
March 14: Diana L. Evens, 56, of the 20400 block of SE Frontage Road in Joliet, was charged with driving under the influence and for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident after an incident near the intersection of LaGrange Road and Old Frankfort Way. Her court date is April 3.

Police report information is provided by local police departments. Charges are not evidence of guilt. They are a record of police actions on a given day, and persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. If you or a family member are charged or cited and the case is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to notify the editor. We will verify and report the outcome.

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