METH, GUNS FOUND IN DOCTOR'S HOME

Dr. Helmut Ahlert told police he hoped to start work soon as an
anesthesiologist at Mercy Hospital, but that job was likely
jeopardized Sunday after he was charged with drug possession.

Ahlert, 37, was found with 16 grams of crystal methamphetamine and
two loaded handguns in his 51st floor apartment in the 500 block of
North State, police said.

Alerted by an informant, Town Hall District tactical officers took a
search warrant to Ahlert's place Sunday afternoon, Chicago Police Lt.
Robert Stasch said.

After Ahlert let them in, the officers discovered the drugs, with a
street value of $5,300, along with two unregistered guns -- a .357
Magnum with a 6-inch barrel and a .380-caliber Beretta semiautomatic
pistol, Stasch said.

Ahlert, a native of Germany, was charged with drug possession,
failure to obtain a firearm owner's identification card, and two City
of Chicago charges of failing to report ownership of a handgun.

Ahlert told police he moved to Chicago in September from northeast
Indiana, where he worked at Goshen Hospital.

"He told us he was supposed to start a job at Mercy Hospital later
this month," Stasch said.

Second high-profile case in city

At a news conference, the lieutenant displayed two documents taken
off Ahlert that allowed him to dispense narcotics -- his medical
license and a license from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Ahlert's arrest on methamphetamine-related charges was the second
high-profile case in the city in two weeks. On Sept. 29, Chicago
Police officers raided a Humboldt Park apartment that contained a
clandestine meth laboratory. Andrius Fidorovas, 32, and Inga
Makarewicz, 33, were charged with aggravated participation in
methamphetamine manufacture, a Class X felony.