Homeless 50-year-old arrested in Elmwood

By NICK VLAHOS
For The Weekly Post

ELMWOOD – As Elmwood Police Chief Aaron Bean was driving Daniel Coons to jail, he knew this criminal suspect had a substance-abuse problem. More accurately, Bean’s nose knew.

“He stunk so bad you could tell he was doing some nasty stuff,” Bean said. “He was in real bad shape.”

Bean recounted the journeys and the arrest of Coons, a 50-year-old homeless Peoria man, for the Elmwood City Council when it met Feb. 4.
Accused initially of stealing a bicycle from a rack at Elmwood Elementary School, Coons also possessed a methamphetamine pipe and a jar that contained a white substance when police apprehended him Jan. 31 in the 200 block of Laurel St., according to a police report. The bike was stolen Jan. 22.

Further investigation revealed Coons was wanted in Tazewell County for meth possession and retail theft. As of late last week, Coons was being held in the Tazewell County Jail in Pekin, where he was awaiting court hearings on those charges.

Coons had spent time in Elmwood for weeks, Bean said. He said he evicted Coons from a local laundromat, where he planned to spend the night.

“Especially in our ward, he was all over the place,” Alderman Kenny Blum said.

An Elmwood woman who knows Coons told police he visited her Jan. 28, admitted he stole the black Mongoose bike and left it at her residence. The 53-year-old woman said she had an off-and-on relationship with Coons, the police report stated.

Following Coons’ admission, the woman drove Coons to a Peoria laundromat where he was living.

“He just shacked up on the floor by the dryers and washers and stayed there,” Bean said. “The female picked him up, brought him out here, and that’s when we started having issues.”

Coons was staying in a shed near Daniels Street in Elmwood when a city employee spotted him walking between yards Jan. 31 and alerted police. Coons matched the description of the suspect who took the bike, as recorded on Elmwood-school security cameras.

“He was very thin,” Bean said. “He had no teeth – part of one in the very front, but you could tell he was on methamphetamines pretty badly.”
In Peoria County, Coons faces charges of theft, criminal trespass to land and possession of drug paraphernalia. The bike was returned to its owner.

Regarding council action, aldermen approved a 3½% increase in water and sewer rates, effective Saturday. The annual hike is smaller in percentage than in recent years, Alderman Nathan Brunnelson said.
The new monthly base rate for water is $19.37 for up to 1,000 gallons. Additional charges are to range from $5.04 to $3.74 per 1,000 gallons, up to 20,000 gallons. Rates decrease as use increases. After the first 20,000 gallons, the additional charge is $2.41 per 1,000 gallons.
Sewer charges are to be $17.17 per month, plus $3.15 for each 1,000 gallons of water used.

Councilors also OK’d a $4,500 deal with Martin Electric to install and remove city holiday lights and decorations. Previous provider East Peoria-based Wilson Services of Central Illinois, Inc., was charging $8,500, Blum said.