Did Marengo PD miss a good arrest?

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
October 20, 2013

Fiction or fact?

According to information reaching me last Sunday, on the previous Saturday night a young man (age 22?) got liquored up at the Marengo Settlers' Days and was ejected from the Festival. Marengo PD, apparently trying to be the "good cops", took him to the P.D. and may have let him sleep it off in the lobby.

On Sunday morning they called a cab for the guy, even though he had no money, and the cab headed for Wonder Lake. Keywords: "no money". Maybe he should have set off on foot.

So what do you think happens, when a kid with a hangover gets near his destination and has no money with which to pay the cabbie? What's a cab ride from Marengo to Wonder Lake cost? $30? $40? $50?

Yep. He runs.

And the cabbie? He called the cops. When they contacted Marengo PD, they (at the Marengo PD) didn't know the guy's name. The cops find the guy and lock him up. And what do they find out while they are locking him up? There is an active warrant for him.

How come the Marengo PD didn't ID him and learn of the warrant? Or did they ID him, but the warrant was so new (issued Thursday, October 10) that it wasn't in the computer system yet? If the warrant information wasn't available to Marengo PD on October 12, why not? Who enters warrant information into LEADS and/or other computer databases that police use?

What was the warrant for? It's complicated, but it looks like it could be related to a 2011 DUI arrest.

I called the Marengo P.D. on Monday. Maybe they were all out celebrating Columbus Day. No one has returned the call. Oh, well; it has only been six days...