Two arrested in Riverside for driving stolen car to ‘weed party’

Two west suburban men were arrested Thursday for stealing a car and driving it to a “weed party” downstate before ending up in Riverside.

Riverside police stopped a black Honda Civic with broken tail lights traveling east on Lawton Road near Riverside Road about 4:40 p.m. Thursday, according to a police statement. The officer discovered the car was reported stolen the day before in Cicero when he ran the registration.

When the officer took Juan Almazan, 21, and Omar Morales, 19, into custody, he found several small plastic bags and pill bottles with marijuana as well as digital scales for measuring the drug, a cannabis grinder, and more clear plastic bags for distribution, police said.

Officers also recovered an iPhone whose serial number was reported stolen and a wallet containing credit cards and gift cards in someone else’s name, police said.

Almazan, of Cicero, was charged with felony possession of a stolen vehicle, felony theft over $500.00, and possession of drug paraphernalia and was cited for the traffic stop, police said. He was also arrested on two outstanding warrants for domestic battery. He was ordered held on a $50,000 bond and is next scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

Morales, of La Grange, was charged with posession of cannabis and possession of drug paraphernalia, police said. He was released after posting bond.

Almazan admitted to police that he had gone to a home in Cicero to use drugs, got bored, and stole a vehicle and someone’s wallet to smoke marijuana on Chicago’s lakefront, police said.

He and Morales got too cold, so they drove to the University of Illinois campus in Champaign-Urbana to go to a “weed party,” police said. There, they purchased more weed and smoked it before heading back toward the west suburbs where they were stopped in Riverside.

Almazan told police he wanted to visit the university campus to see if he would be interested in attending, police said.