Zion man, on the run for 12 years, arrested and charged with new crimes

WAUKEGAN, IL – A Zion man who has spent the past 12 years evading authorities on an active Lake County warrant was arrested Tuesday and charged with drug trafficking, illegal firearm possession and obstruction of justice, authorities said with.

Amado Palma-Yanes, 38, of the 2000 block of Hebron Avenue, is scheduled to appear in court for a detention hearing Thursday, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Around early September, sheriff's investigators received unspecified information that Palma-Yanes was selling drugs, Deputy Police Chief Chris Covelli told Patch.

At first they began monitoring him, but they soon discovered he had an active warrant for his arrest dating back to 2012.

In that case, Palma-Yanes was arrested by Waukegan police and charged with possession of a controlled substance and obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying evidence.

He was also charged with driving without a license or insurance in connection with the November 2011 incident, according to court records.

Investigators concluded that Palma-Yanes used various pseudonyms to avoid arrest during his 12 years on the run.

When they stopped him on Tuesday to take him into custody on the warrant, he gave them a fake ID that bore the name of one of those aliases.

A search of Palma-Yanes' home then uncovered three illegal weapons, one of which was a “ghost gun” that had been personally made and had no serial number.

Although he had less than 10 grams of cocaine on him during the traffic stop, investigators found evidence of much more in his home.

“Evidence was found at his home that large quantities of cocaine, possibly kilos, were being transported,” Covelli told Patch.

These included empty one-kilogram packages that still had drug residue on them, various chemicals used by drug dealers to dilute their wares to increase profits, digital scales, a vacuum sealer and bags, according to Covelli.

During the search, a police dog alerted investigators to possible drugs in a safe they seized from his home, and they are looking for a warrant to crack it.

Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg said in a statement that his office's Special Investigations Team, a state-funded task force, has shown “tireless dedication” to getting drugs and guns off the streets.

“Their hard work resulted in the arrest of a suspected drug trafficker,” Idleburg said, “and the seizure of three illegally possessed firearms – three fewer weapons that could harm the people of Lake County.”