Drug bust - but was traffic stop valid?

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
January 17, 2014

McHenry County Sheriff's Police made a traffic stop on Monday. According to the Northwest Herald, "Police said members of the Intelligence Led Policing Unit stopped a 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix on Route 47 near Cooney Road when they observed the occupants making excessive movements."

Will they have to eventually kiss those charges good-bye? Since when is it P.C. to stop a driver because of "... occupants making excessive movements"? Is that a new statute in the Illinois Vehicle Code?

Presumably, they really had a legal reason to pull over the driver, but he was released at the scene. The article makes no mention of any traffic ticket or warning issued to him.

This ought to be an interesting case to follow. Jorge L. Gonzalez Martinez, 18, of Wonder Lake, was arrested on several drug-related charges and is currently a guest in Hotel Nygren with an $80,000 bail. His court date on Case No. 14CF000047 is February 4. It'll be a short commute, unless someone comes up with $8,000 to bond him out.