April 25, 2024
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Distant trial date set for Joliet Township supervisor facing felony DUI charge

By Felix Sarver
Angel Contreras speaking with two Joliet police officers following a traffic stop on Sunday, June 19, 2022.

Angel Contreras speaking with two Joliet police officers following a traffic stop on Sunday, June 19, 2022. (Joliet Police Department)

A Joliet Township supervisor is set for trial Oct. 2 in connection with felony charges alleging that he drove under the influence while his driver’s license was revoked.

The trial date for Angel Contreras, 36, of Joliet, was set Thursday by Judge Carmen Goodman.

Goodman also granted a request from Contreras’ attorney, Scott Delaney, to not allow the media to take any photos, videos or audio recordings of the trial for Contreras, who was elected to the Joliet Township board in 2021.

Contreras is one of two elected officials on the township board with an open felony case.

In December, Joliet Township Trustee Karl Ferrell, 42, was arrested on felony charges of defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program, fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits and failing to file five income tax returns.

Ferrell also is contending with efforts by the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office to kick him off the township board over his past felony convictions.

Contreras was arrested June 19 in Joliet after an officer suspected he was driving under the influence of alcohol.

After that arrest, a grand jury indicted Contreras on charges that alleged he was driving on a revoked license after he was twice convicted of driving on a revoked license in Will and DuPage counties.

Joliet Township Supervisor Angel Contreras speaks before the unveiling of six local artist’s works. Joliet’s arts nonprofit The Art Movement commissioned five sculptures that represent Joliet’s heritage of stone and steel on July 28, 2022, in Joliet. (Gary Middendorf - gmiddendorf@shawnedia.com/Gary Middendorf)

A grand jury also indicted Contreras on a charge that alleged he committed his third DUI violation after he was convicted of operating a vehicle while intoxicated Feb. 28, 2008, in Mahaska County in Iowa and operating a vehicle while intoxicated Aug. 15, 2015, in Elkhart County in Indiana.

Before Contreras’ arrest, he told officers at the scene that he was “actually with Bob earlier,” and clarified that he meant Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, according to squad video obtained by The Herald-News in a Freedom of Information Act request.

O’Dekirk had recommended Contreras’ appointment to the Housing Authority of Joliet board in 2016. Contreras left the board after his June 19 arrest, and his departure already was in the works before the arrest, O’Dekirk said.

The officer asked Contreras how much he had to drink before telling him he appeared “super lethargic” and that his eyes were “super bloodshot and glassy.”

At one point, Contreras said he had had four drinks “at the end of the night, and I shouldn’t have,” and repeatedly begged the officers to let him go.

“It’s happened before with other people. ... I’m asking you, sir, like, can you give me the full-on mercy?” Contreras said.

Contreras did not respond to further requests from the officer to submit to a sobriety test, the video shows. The officer told him he was under arrest for DUI and driving with a revoked license.