Joliet Drug Squad Busts 3 Men with $3M in Heroin at Bolingbrook Mall

Three men were arrested and nearly seven pounds of heroin confiscated in a drug bust conducted by Joliet MANS Thursday in a parking lot at the Promenade Bolingbrook shopping center.

Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Mike Weber, who oversees the Joliet Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad, said officers were tipped off that a large drug deal was going to go down near the mall's restaurant court, located near Boughton Road and Interstate 355.

When they observed their target, Uriel Quintana, 25, of Lindenhurst, emerge from a blue Chevy Avalanche carrying a plastic Coleman-style cooler, they swooped in and arrested him, Weber said. Inside, they found three kilos -- 6.10 pounds -- of heroin, he said.

Also arrested were two Joliet men who accompanied him to the site, Santiago Diaz, 39, 310 N. Larkin Ave., and Jesus Rodriguez, 35, 3007 Dan Ireland Drive.

Heroin is typically sold by the gram, with about 10 hits per gram, depending up on the user's addiction. Weber said they calculated the heroin they confiscated to be worth about $3 million had it been sold.

He added that the size of the take should put a good dent in the local heroin supply.

No other details on the source of the heroin or where it was being delivered were released because it remains an open investigation, Weber said.

All three suspects were charged with manufacture/delivery of 900-plus grams of heroin. They are being held in the Will County jail pending a bond hearing.