CROWN POINT, IN — An Illinois man allegedly stole more than $12,000 of property from Illinois State Police that was identified by a Winfield police detective during a traffic stop last month, criminal charges show.
Zachary Luker, 20, was charged Wednesday with felony theft, Lake Criminal Court records show.
Luker is accused of traveling over the speed limit Aug. 18 near 101st Avenue and Randolph Street when an officer pulled him over and noticed his vehicle, a white Chevrolet Tahoe, was outfitted like a police vehicle. The car had exterior emergency lights, spotlights and K-9 stickers on the car, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The officer asked a female driver and a man in the passenger seat identified as Luker who the car belonged to, and Luker said it was his. He told the officer he used it as a "demo vehicle" for an emergency vehicle company, the affidavit said.
Such vehicles are often registered to the company, not a specific person, a detective wrote in the affidavit.
Luker had a German Shepherd dog in a kennel area inside the vehicle and a police radio inside. When the officer asked Luker to turn on the radio, the radio emitted the words, "Illinois State Police," the affidavit said.
This gave the officer pause, as Illinois State Police had recently transmitted information to area law enforcement about break-ins to their police cars and emergency equipment being stolen, the detective wrote.
The officer called an Illinois State Police lieutenant, who requested the vehicle be impounded. Police discovered multiple sets of keys for Ford vehicles, a portable state police radio, a police duty belt, handcuffs and a laptop believed to belong to the state police, the document shows.
Luker had no affiliation with the Illinois State Police, according to the document. He admitted to police he had gone to the headquarters and stolen property in the past.
Luker was arrested and booked into the Lake County Jail. In his jail calls, he was supposedly heard telling his mother to dispose of other stolen equipment that was at his home and mentions a stolen police car in the driveway.
His mother declined to do so, the document shows.
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