Joliet's Crash Victim May Forfeit $7,160 Inside His Nike Bag
JOLIET, IL — Crest Hill police have made no arrests in connection with last November’s non-fatal shooting of Aaron Pouncy, but the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office of Jim Glasgow is now trying to confiscate $7,232 cash found by detectives inside the shooting victim’s car.
The 28-year-old Crest Hill gunshot victim tried to drive himself to Joliet’s St. Joe’s hospital during the late night hours of Nov. 23, only to crash into a tree and the brick professional office building in Joliet at 1118 N. Larkin Ave.
Now, four months later, the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office has filed a civil forfeiture complaint asking that a judge declare the $7,232 found inside the gunshot victim’s car a forfeited asset for police.
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Prominent Joliet criminal defense attorney Chuck Bretz is even involved in the court proceedings. Bretz entered his appearance Thursday, arguing $7,160 of the $7,232 belongs to someone else.
According to this week’s civil forfeiture complaint:
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In late November, Crest Hill police responded to a report of a single gunshot in the 1900 block of Marlboro Lane. The officer checked the area and found no evidence of any shooting. Several minutes later, the same officer learned of a crash in Joliet near Ingalls and Larkin Avenues, and the crash victim had suffered a gunshot to his chest.
Pouncy’s white Chevrolet Malibu was going south on Larkin Avenue when the driver lost control and struck the professional office building, and a tree, at 1118 N. Larkin Ave.
Joliet police found Aaron Pouncy inside the car with a single gunshot wound to his chest. A Joliet ambulance brought him to St. Joe’s hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, during the overnight hours, a Will County Sheriff’s deputy discovered a shell casing in a parking lot in the 1900 block of Marlboro Lane, in Crest Hill.
Pouncy’s damaged car was towed back to Crest Hill’s Police Department, and police learned that the gunshot victim resided at an apartment unit in the 1900 block of Marlboro, which was where the original shooting occurred.
A woman who lived at the address told police Pouncy was her boyfriend and that he actually lived in Channahon, but he stayed at her apartment.
Five days after the shooting, Crest Hill police obtained a search warrant for Pouncy’s Chevrolet Malibu. A detective found a Glock 19 9 mm semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine on the floor of the driver’s side near the gas and brake pedals.
The detective found 14 live ammunition rounds in the extended magazine and one live round in the chamber. There was also a spent, silver-colored 40 caliber shell casing lodged between the driver’s seat and the center console.
In the passenger’s side compartment, the detective found $72 cash. On the passenger’s floor was a Nike satchel bag. When the bag was unzipped, Crest Hill police discovered $7,160 cash, bringing the total amount seized from Pouncy’s car to $7,232.
Elsewhere in the Nike satchel were two debit cards in the name of Aaron Pouncy, and two separate tied plastic bags containing blue pills. One bag had 45 pills and the other bag had 73 pills.
“Detective Steen later contacted CPAT Investigator Seiken who advised that he suspected the pills to be Fentanyl,” the forfeiture complaint stated. “It should be noted that the pills were analyzed by the Illinois State Police Forensic Science Center and proved positive for Fentanyl.”
According to the complaint, Crest Hill police found “one hole in the driver side rear door that appeared to be consistent with someone standing at the rear of the car shooting towards the driver compartment.”
As of March 31, no one has been charged with shooting Pouncy, according to Bretz. “We’re pretty confident they know who did it,” Bretz told Joliet Patch on Friday.
The civil forfeiture, on the other hand, asks that a Will County judge declare the $7,232 cash a forfeited police asset pertaining to violations of the Controlled Substances Act and or the Cannabis Control Act — even though no criminal charges are pending against Pouncy.
As for Bretz, he entered his appearance in the civil forfeiture case on behalf of a woman named Debra Bennett. The downtown Joliet lawyer submitted a verified claim in regard to the money inside Pouncy’s Nike satchel bag, $7,160.
Bretz contends the large sum of money belonged to Bennett, not Pouncy.
According to Bretz’s court filing, Bennett acquired the $7,160 “by saving her money throughout the year from working at her job at Kankakee High School and from saving her Social Security.
“Debra Bennett … is the sole owner of the property,” Bretz argued. “No other person has an interest in the above property.”
Bretz argued that the cash is exempt from civil forfeiture “and should be rightfully returned to the claimant.”
During Friday’s interview, Bretz told Joliet Patch’s editor that Pouncy “was holding the money in the bag for another relative. It was family funds for a relative that he was holding, and the State is trying to take it away from a guy that just got shot, so we feel obviously that’s very inappropriate.”
Related Patch coverage:
Crest Hill Shooting, Joliet Crash Victim Still Hospitalized
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