HOUSE IN DRUG BUST COULD BE SEIZED

Local authorities took a little-used but dire measure to stop illegal
activity Thursday at an Elgin home after a lengthy drug investigation.

Two people at 216 Wilcox Ave. in Elgin were taken into custody at 6 p.m.
Wednesday when members of the Elgin police drug unit, gang unit and members
of the North Central Narcotics Task Force executed a search warrant there.

After the arrests, officers "red tagged" the home saying it was unfit for
habitation, and police filed a nuisance abatement complaint against the
property.

According to authorities, if the owner of the property was aware illegal
activity was going on there, the house could be seized by the police
department for one year.

The nuisance abatement procedure is rare - the last time a house was seized
in Elgin under the procedure was about 15 years ago on Villa Street.

"We plan to aggressively address any other drug locations in Elgin, as we
did on Wilcox," said Elgin police Lt. Scott Davis. "After we made the
arrests on Wednesday, several people came up to us and thanked us for what
we had done."

Ralph Lauk, 67, of 216 Wilcox Ave. was charged with two counts of unlawful
delivery of a controlled substance and two counts of unlawful possession of
a controlled substance, according to reports.

Alyce Semanchik, 54, of the same address was charged with unlawful
possession of a controlled substance, the report said.

Neither Lauk or Semanchik own the home. Police did not release the name of
the property owner late Thursday.

Police said undercover agents made drug purchases from Lauk at the home on
Dec. 11 and 16, 2002. Both purchases were for 2.1 grams of cocaine and Lauk
was paid $100 each time, police said.

When police entered the house Wednesday evening, Alyce Semanchik led them
to the basement where they found less than one gram of cocaine that
Semanchik said belonged to her, police said.

Police seized the cocaine and $850 as evidence.

Elgin police said they had the house under surveillance for approximately
eight months and had conducted the investigation on the house for three months.

During that time, police said that they had made approximately 12 arrests
of people who had purchased cocaine at the residence.

Neighbors and business owners in the area said it was common knowledge that
the residence was central to illegal activity. They said people would enter
the house and leave after only a few minutes.

Many would walk between the houses after they parked on Erie Street or in
an apartment lot on South Street.

Although the house had been red-tagged by the Elgin Department of Code
Enforcement, many people were seen entering and leaving the house on
Thursday and the police chased others away, neighbors said.

At a hearing held in Elgin on Thursday, the bonds were set at $3,000 for
Lauk and $2,000 for Semanchik. Both were unable to post the bonds and were
taken to the Kane County jail Thursday morning to await preliminary court
dates on Feb. 5 at the Kane County Judicial Center.