Man guilty of selling cocaine to informant in Fox River Grove grocery store parking lot

A Cicero man who prosecutors said turned the Fox River Grove Jewel-Osco parking lot into an “open-air drug market” was found guilty Tuesday of selling cocaine there twice last year.

Jurors rejected a defense attorney’s argument that Ivan Ruiz, 36, wasn’t there that day, even though there were no photos, videos or phone numbers linking him to the drug deal or the confidential informant who set it up.

The McHenry County jury also apparently didn’t accept attorney Robert Ritacca Jr.’s assertion that the informant – Matthew Lilla, a convicted felon turned confidential informant and the state’s star witness – didn’t tell the truth.

Ruiz was found guilty of possessing, manufacturing and delivering 15 to 100 grams of cocaine, Class X felonies.

He was initially charged with possession with intent to deliver, as well as manufacturing and delivering, fentanyl. The white chalky powder Ruiz was found to have sold to Lilla had initially field-tested positive for a presumptive presence of fentanyl. The same powder was later tested at an Illinois State Police lab and showed it did not contain any fentanyl, Mackenzie Callison, an ISP forensic drug analyst said Tuesday.

On May 8, 2024, Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Brodersen said, Ruiz and another man, co-defendant Jorge Barajas, 44, of Chicago Ridge, met with Lilla to sell him about 28 grams of cocaine. Lilla, who identified Ruiz in court by his neck tattoo, testified Tuesday that he arranged the first drug deal with Barajas. Ritacca said Barajas was the initial target that day. Police did not even know who Ruiz was before then, Ritacca said.

At around noon that day, Ruiz and Barajas arrived at the grocery store and Ruiz went inside. In the meantime, Lilla showed up and, after trying to get Barajas into his vehicle, which was wired by detectives to record video and audio, Lilla got in the backseat of Barajas’ vehicle, according to authorities.

Lilla said Ruiz then came out of the store and got inside the vehicle, at which point Lilla handed him the $1,100 given to him by detectives of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Task Force, and Ruiz handed Lilla a Cheetos bag containing nearly 28 grams of cocaine, Brodersen said.

A couple weeks later, Lilla again set up a drug buy, this time communicating with Ruiz, Lilla testified. He said Ruiz was the bigger guy in the drug operation so he wanted to bypass Barajas.

According to Lilla and prosecutors, on the afternoon of May 29, Barajas and Ruiz again drove into the grocery store parking lot, as did Lilla, who said he was surprised to see Barajas. He got into Barajas’ vehicle and gave Ruiz a baggie that again contained about 28 grams of cocaine. As Barajas appeared to be looking out for police, Ruiz gave Lilla the cocaine, and Lilla gave Ruiz the $1,100, the prosecutor and Lilla said.

In closing arguments, Ritacca contended that McHenry County Sheriff’s Detective Nicholas Clesceri gave incorrect testimony and that Lilla is not credible because he was given a deal in another case to testify. Lilla admitted he signed an agreement in 2023 to cooperate with authorities, but said he already received the benefit of that agreement, and that he was not getting any benefit for testifying Tuesday.

Ritacca attempted to show discrepancies in Lilla’s testimony as to what color Barajas’ vehicle was. Lilla said white but the detective and prosecutors said black.

Ritacca challenged Clesceri’s identification of Ruiz and whether he actually saw the “hand-to-hand” transaction of the cocaine. Clesceri said there were multiple detectives surrounding the area watching the transactions, and he was using binoculars. Clesceri said he could see the transactions and “maintained visual on [Lilla] the entire time.”

In 2022, Lilla was labeled the ring leader in what authorities called possibly the ”largest drug bust” in McHenry County history of a “drug trafficking” operation that spanned the United States. Lilla faced decades in prison had he been convicted on a slew of offenses for which he was initially charged, including Class X felony marijuana manufacturing and trafficking charges, court records show.

In January, Lilla entered into a negotiated plea of guilty to one count each of money laundering and marijuana trafficking, Class 1 felonies. He was sentenced to four years in prison on each charge which he is serving concurrently, court records show.

Authorities seized assets of more than $1million including cash, homes, jewelry, bank counts and vehicles, tied to the trafficking operation, prosecutors and court records said.

Barajas’ case is pending. He is due in court May 30.