Suspected child molester Zachary Owens is now charged with making hooch in his jail cell. (Credit: Kendall County Sheriff’s Office)
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YORKVILLE, Ill. (CBS) — A suspected child molester now faces a new charge, for allegedly making alcohol in his cell at the Kendall County Jail.
As WBBM Newsradio’s Bob Roberts reports, Zachary Owens, 22, of Plano, is now charged with felony possession of contraband in a penal institution.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Bob Roberts reports
The ingredients for jailhouse hooch are actually quite easy for inmates to obtain. All that is needed is orange juice or Kool-Aid, fruit, and bread to help it ferment.
Charges against Owens have just been pressed, even though Kendall County Deputy Sheriff Craig French said guards found a bottle filled with the homebrew alcohol during a Sept. 23 sweep of his cell.
Prosecutors held off until they received the results of tests from the Illinois State Police crime lab, which confirmed that the bottle’s contents were alcohol.
Owens already faced a series of sex-related charges stemming from six years of alleged attacks on two children and an adult, including predatory criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, sexual abuse and indecent solicitation of a child.
He has been jailed awaiting trial since September 2010.
Possession of the hooch is a Class 4 felony. A judge added $5,000 onto Owens’ $755,000 bond.
