A Chicago man found inside an SUV reported stolen from a Naperville address has been charged with several felonies, including one stemming from the loaded gun he was carrying, authorities said.
Naperville police were notified about 4:40 a.m. Tuesday that a Dodge Durango had been taken only minutes earlier while it was parked in the 1600 block of Westminster Drive, according to a news release issued by police and the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Officers located the vehicle at a gas station on Route 59 near Interstate 88 in Naperville but when they tried to arrest the suspect ? Frank Whitefield Jr., 20, of the 7600 block of South Champlain Avenue ? he and another man fled on foot, the report said.
The officer who caught Whitefield was able to take away the loaded .45-caliber Glock pistol he was carrying, the release said. The weapon had an extended magazine and a laser attachment.
Whitefield was charged with felony counts of possession of a stolen motor vehicle, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession of burglary tools.
He is being held in the DuPage County jail in lieu of $250,000 bail and next scheduled to be in court Feb. 21.
“This was phenomenal police work, from the initial response to the swift location and apprehension of the suspect,” Naperville Police Chief Jason Arres said in the release.
