Lake County sheriff’s K-9 finds suspect hiding under tarp

A K-9 team from the Lake County sheriff’s office helped find a domestic battery suspect who ran away from officers early Sunday in the northern suburbs.

About 12:40 a.m., someone called 911 to report a domestic battery happening inside a vehicle on the side of the westbound I-94 off-ramp at Route 60 in Mettawa, according to the sheriff’s office.

Sheriff’s deputies and Illinois State Police responded and found a stolen vehicle, but 30-year-old Jermaine D. Ausley had already run away.

Deputy John Forlenza and his canine partner Dax responded and began tracking Ausley’s scent, according to the sheriff’s office.

They tracked the scent east to the 1900 block of Amberley Court in Lake Forest, where Dax found Ausley hiding under a tarp in an outbuilding, according to the sheriff’s office. He was taken into custody.

Ausley, of Chicago, was charged with two counts of domestic battery, obstructing a peace officer, criminal trespass to building and criminal trespass to vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office.

He is being held at the Lake County Jail on a $40,000 bond, and is next scheduled to appear in court Friday.