Officers Say They Found Tinley Park Duo in Utility Van With Heroin and Pills

 said they covertly followed a suspicious van over the weekend through several local parking lots before approaching the driver and his passenger, only to find them with heroin, syringes and prescription pills.

An officer began pursuing Matthew J. Cummings, 31, of the 7500 block of West 173rd Street in and his passenger, Tiffany N. Raber, 31, of the 16600 block of Jean Lane in Tinley Park, after spotting their van in a store parking lot around 9:45 p.m., the report said.

The brown vehicle would park for several minutes in random locations and then continue on its way with what seemed like no destination, according to the report. After four parking lot stops, the officer walked up to the driver's side window of the vehicle in the Gatto's lot around 10:15 p.m.

Both Cummings and Raber had their heads down and their eyes closed, the officer wrote in the report.

"I knocked on the driver side window at which time the female awoke," the report said. "Matthew did not move. Tiffany shook Matthew's right arm at which time he awoke."

Cummings opened the driver's side door and the officer said that he saw a "one-hitter" used to smoke marijuana in the door panel. He also saw a hypodermic needle there, the report said.

Both Cummings and Raber were speaking slowly and had dilated eyes, the report said. They told the officer that when they stopped for 15 minutes outside Kohl's, Five Below and a local industrial park that they were "just talking," police said. 

When searching the van, officers said they found a small clear plastic bag with a white powdery substance inside. It later tested positive for heroin, police said.

The also discovered a handful of pills in Raber's wallet that were "all loose and commingled together." None of the pills were in prescription bottles nor were any prescription bottles found inside the vehicle, police said.

The meds were later identified as Hydrocodone, Alprazolam, Seroquel, Trazodone Hydroloride, Suboxone and Methylprednisolone. There were 27 pills total.

Raber told police the heroin was not hers and that the pills had been prescribed to her. She said she had not used heroin since August.

Police charged Cummings with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Raber was charged with possession of a controlled substance as well.

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