A Wauconda police canine assisted in a traffic stop where officers located drugs and an illegally possessed weapon that led to the arrest of two men in Round Lake Park.
Round Lake Park police officers were on patrol around 10 p.m. Dec. 29 in the 100 block of West Main Street.
They observed a Ford F-150 pickup truck driving west on Main Street with inadequate lighting and illegally tinted windows, Police Chief Dan Burch told the Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
An officer stopped traffic in the vehicle and spoke to the driver, identified as Carlos M. Zepeda Sandoval, 39, of Round Lake Park.
The passenger was identified as Eric Hernandez, 32, of Lake in the Hills.
During the stop, officers requested a police canine to assist with an exterior search of the vehicle.
The Wauconda police canine badger and its handler, Officer Finze, responded.
Badger conducted an exterior search of the vehicle and the canine provided a positive indication of the presence of an illegal drug in the vehicle, Burch said.
Officers spoke to Hernandez outside the vehicle and discovered that he had a large amount of cash in his possession, some of which contained a white powdery substance, Burch said.
An officer conducted a test on the powder and it came back positive for the presence of cocaine.
Officers located a loaded semi-automatic handgun under the driver’s seat.
Both subjects were taken into custody, Burch said.
Hernandez was charged with attempted unlawful possession of a controlled substance and was released.
Zepeda Sandoval was charged with two counts of aggravated illegal use of a weapon, improper rear license plate light, and illegally tinted glass.