Peoria man held on $20K bond on charges from meth-related fatal crash

A Peoria man was ordered held on $20,000 bond Tuesday after prosecutors said he killed a woman in a meth-related crash – the first such case in La Salle County history.

Jiroe J. Logan, 24, of the 3400 block of Oakcrest Drive, was granted the services of the public defender during a Tuesday morning appearance before Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. The judge gave Logan a July 23 court date for appearance with counsel and possible arraignment. Logan needs to post $2,000 cash to be released from La Salle County Jail.

Logan is charged 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, for the June 30 crash near Lostant that killed 24-year-old Samone Gregory of Peoria. Laboratory tests showed methamphetamine in a urine sample collected from Logan, court records show.

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 crash.

That it took nearly a year for charges to be filed is not uncommon. Toxicology results can be weeks in the making thanks to backlogs at state crime labs and accident reconstructions can take longer. It can be months or even years before prosecutors can collect the evidence needed to show a driver was impaired in a fatal crash.

La Salle County prosecutors said last week 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.