A licensed physician set to begin working at a Chicago hospital later this month was arrested Sunday at his downtown condominium on charges he had more than $5,000 worth of methamphetamine and two unlicensed handguns, police said.
About 3 p.m. Sunday, Chicago police officers working on a confidential tip executed a search warrant at the home of Dr. Helmut Ahlert, 37, in the 500 block of North State Street, police Lt. Robert Stasch said.
Inside Ahlert’s condominium, officers found 16 grams of methamphetamine, which has a street value of about $5,300, Stasch said. Officers also discovered a .357-caliber handgun, a .380-caliber handgun and live ammunition.
Neither of the guns was registered, and Ahlert does not possess the required firearm owner’s identification card, Stasch said.
Ahlert was charged Sunday with one count of possession of a controlled substance, one count of failure to have a firearm owner’s identification card and two counts of failure to secure gun registration, Stasch said.
Stasch said the trafficking of methamphetamine has become a growing problem in the city’s Lakeview neighborhood recently.
“In the Lakeview area and the Town Hall Police District this has been a major problem that we’ve identified and have been working on very systematically for approximately a year and a half,” he said.
“What makes this [case] unusual is a person like this, a licensed physician, being involved in possession and trafficking.”
Ahlert, who is licensed to practice anesthesiology in Illinois, worked at Goshen Hospital in Indiana until September, police say.
Ahlert told officers he was scheduled to begin working at a Chicago hospital later this month, Stasch said.
Ahlert’s intentions for the meth are still under investigation
“This amount of methamphetamine wouldn’t really be for personal use,” he said.
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dwischnowsky@tribune.com
