Traffic Stop Yields Heroin in Syringe But No Drug Charge

St. Charles police who stopped a man who was driving on a suspended driver’s license found a syringe containing heroin inside the vehicle but could file no drug charges without a confession.

That’s what happened Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 when St. Charles police, alerted to a possible drunken driver in a vehicle driving erratically on Main Street, initiated a traffic stop and found a syringe with 12 units of heroin inside the vehicle but not in the immediate possession of either of the two people inside.

Heroin has been an ongoing concern in the suburban areas, particularly in DuPage County, where the coroner has said the county is on pace for a record number of heroin-related deaths this year.

But without a confession, Kane County prosecutors told St. Charles police, they would not authorize drug charges in the case.

Police did charge James Frederick Roesner, 34, of the 700 block of West Main Street, with driving on a suspended license. Roesner later posted bond and was released.

Officers responding to a report of a possible drunken driver saw Roesner swerving and accelerating rapidly from traffic lights and initiated a traffic stop, which ended when Roesner pulled into his driveway.

According to the report, Roesner immediately admitted his license was suspended and told the officer he was test driving the vehicle for his passenger, the vehicle’s owner, due to her concerns of brake problems and another issue affecting the vehicle’s acceleration.

A second officer was talking to the female passenger when he noticed a white syringe in a side compartment of the passenger door. The brown fluid in the syringe subsequently tested positive for heroin. With the syringe was a bottle cap with burn marks and an undetermined residue inside.

When asked where they came from, woman said it was not hers and she did not believe it was Roesner’s. She also told the officer neither she nor Roesner were diabetic. She told the officer she has a friend who uses heroin, but the friend is in jail and had not been in the woman’s vehicle for about a month.