Feb. 28--A West Side man with a history of drug arrests was ordered held in lieu of $150,000 bail after he accepted an overseas package containing hundreds of Ecstasy or "Molly" pills, which led to a seizure of more drugs and cash at the man's residence, authorities said.
Authorities removed 322 pills from the package before allowing an undercover U.S. Postal Service inspector to deliver it to a post office box at a local post office just after 1 p.m. Thursday, authorities said.
About an hour later, local officers operating surveillance at the post office watched as Darrell Crider retrieved the package along with two others that he put in a back seat of a waiting car, according to Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Kelly Olivier.
With another man driving, Crider rode to his home in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood where he was watched taking the packages into his apartment building in the 4200 block of West Hirsch Street. Minutes later, investigators received an alert that the package had been opened, Olivier said, validating their anticipatory search warrant.
As officers served the warrant, Crider, 28, bolted out of his apartment's back door but was arrested after a short foot chase, authorities said. Crider, who has multiple arrests and felony drug convictions, is a self-admitted member of the Morse Boys faction of the Gangster Disciples street gang, according to a Cook County sheriff's arrest report.
Inside the first-floor apartment where Crider said he lived, officers recovered a cache of drugs, including the 220 pills that were in the mailed package along with 1,109 more pills, two bags containing nearly 260 grams of Xanax bars, a small bag of crack cocaine, all with an estimated street value of $75,515, Olivier said.
Police also recovered materials used to mix, weigh and package drugs along with about $6,465, which was turned over to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for seizure, authorities said.
Crider was taken to the Cook County sheriff's police lockup at Maybrook Square and later charged with multiple counts of trafficking a controlled substance and manufacturing Ecstasy pills.
Prosecutors filed a petition for violation of bail bond against Crider, who was out on bail for a recent unrelated drug arrest for manufacturing and delivery of cocaine, according to court records.
Crider is scheduled to return to court next week.
wlee@tribpub.com
