Peoria man charged in meth-related fatal crash from summer 2020

A Peoria man has been charged with aggravated DUI for killing a woman last summer in what’s believed to be the first meth-related fatal crash in La Salle County history.

Jiroe J. Logan, 24, was picked up on a La Salle County warrant charging him with aggravated DUI, a Class 2 felony with a special sentencing range of 3-14 years in prison and only a limited shot at probation. Prosecutors said Friday that Logan is in custody in southern Illinois awaiting extradition.

Logan was charged earlier this week. Court records indicate methamphetamine was detected in a urine sample collected after the June 30 crash near Lostant that killed 24-year-old Samone Gregory of Peoria.

The crash occurred on Route 18 near East Third Road in Hope Township, near the La Salle-Marshall counties line. Gregory died at a Rockford hospital from injuries sustained in the accident. That it took nearly a year to file charges is not uncommon; crime labs are backlogged and prosecutors can wait months (even years) to receive accident reconstruction reports to prove impairment was a contributing cause.

Aggravated DUI is filed in alcohol- and drug-related crashes when driver impairment leads to death or serious injury. La Salle County prosecutors, however, said they were unaware of any previous auto fatality linked to meth, making Logan’s the first such case in county history.

Meth cases as a whole, however, have soared over the past few years. Mexican drug cartels began manufacturing the drug as a replacement product when the legalization of cannabis reduced the demand for Mexican-grown marijuana.