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DuPage County Prosecutor's Son Arrested On Drug Charge
Police Called To Apartment Building For Smell Of Marijuana
POSTED: 7:37 pm CDT May 13,
2008
UPDATED: 2:52 pm CDT May 14,
2008
NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- The son of DuPage County's top prosecutor and two other men have been arrested for allegedly possessing marijuana and a smoking pipe over the weekend in Naperville.Nicholas T. Birkett, the son of DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett, has been cited under city of Naperville ordinances for possession of drug paraphernalia and less than 30 grams of cannabis, according to Naperville police records.Birkett, 21, listed his parents' address in Wheaton while undergoing processing at the Naperville police station, police records showed.
He was taken into custody at 7:58 p.m. Sunday inside a sixth-floor apartment in the 700 block of Royal St. George Drive on Naperville's northwest side, records indicated. Also arrested were Michael G. Busse, 29, the tenant of the apartment; and Kenneth J. Grant, 21.Two police officers went to the apartment building at 7:23 p.m. Sunday following an anonymous telephone call concerning the aroma of burning marijuana in a hallway, according to records. They traced the scent to Busse's apartment and knocked on the front door, records showed.A man answered through the closed door and the officers identified themselves, asking that the door be opened, records indicated. The officers at that point could hear people speaking in low voices inside the apartment.Busse then opened the door, identifying himself as the tenant and claiming to be the only one present at the time, according to records. The officers, however, could hear voices coming from the rear of the apartment, where they found Birkett and Grant seated on the balcony, records showed.Grant and Birkett said they were smoking cigarettes there because cigarette smoking was not allowed inside the apartment, records indicated.Police then found "a one-hitter pipe lying on the coffee table in plain view" in the living room, according to records. They also discovered a small clear-plastic bag containing a leafy green substance on the living room floor, a substance that later proved to be four grams of marijuana, records showed.All three men denied ownership of either the pipe or the marijuana, records indicated.Birkett has no prior criminal record, according to police documents.Busse was arrested in March 2007 by Westmont police on a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance and two traffic violations, according to records on file in DuPage County Circuit Court in Wheaton. That case is pending, with Busse scheduled to appear May 22 in court.He also was arrested in February 1998 by Downers Grove police on a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana. Court records showed he was found guilty that June, placed on court supervision and ordered to perform community service work.Grant was arrested in October 2005 by Naperville police on misdemeanor charges of harassment by telephone and unlawful possession of alcohol, court records indicated. He pleaded guilty in April 2006 and was placed on court supervision.Both Busse and Grant in the most recent case were charged under state law with misdemeanor possession of cannabis and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to police records.Joe Birkett, a former Republican Party gubernatorial candidate, has been a tireless and ferocious prosecutor of narcotics dealers and drug-related crimes. He could not be reached immediately by telephone for comment on his son's arrest.
Copyright 2008, Sun-Times News Group and Naperville Sun
Copyright 2008, Sun-Times News Group and Naperville Sun
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