Two charged with selling heroin in Wauconda

Two men were arrested Wednesday with 72 individually packaged bags of heroin in northwest suburban Wauconda.

James A. Valenzuela, 36, and his brother, 27-year-old Brian E. Crispin, both face charges of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, both felonies, according to a statement from the Lake County sheriff’s office.

The men were arrested when the sheriff’s Gang Task Force performed a traffic stop, police said. Valenzuela, the driver, was carrying 56 individually packaged bags of heroin and investigators found Crispin sitting in the passenger seat with 16 bags of heroin, indicating the men intended to sell the drugs.

The brothers had become the target of an investigation after the task force received a tip for possible drug activity on the block where Valenzuela lives, the 25000 block of Tamarack Drive in Wauconda.

Valenzuela has been ordered held at the Lake County Jail on the $125,000 bond, police said. He is next scheduled to appear in court March 15.

Crispin, who lives in the 500 block of North Maple Street in Prospect Heights, was ordered held on a $10,000 bond and is due back in court March 1.

“We encourage the community to keep an open line of communication with us,” Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said in the statement. “This investigation serves as a fine example of concerned citizens working with law enforcement to solve a problem in the community.”