Lake Forest Man Charged Following Metra Train Shutdown

A Lake Forest man was arrested Friday after police said he left a duffel bag near a Lake Forest Metra station, an action that shut down the Union Pacific/North line while authorities investigated.

Charles E. Mills, 30, of 1301 North Western Ave., was charged with disorderly conduct, use of intoxicating compounds and retail theft after Lake Forest police found him locked inside a bathroom at CVS/Pharmacy, where officers said he was huffing from two cans of computer keyboard cleaner he had stolen. The store was evacuated while police gained entry into the bathroom.

The arrest came after Lake Forest police received a report at 9:06 a.m. from the Union Pacific Railroad that maintenance workers saw someone place a large duffel bag about 200 yards north of Lake Forest’s east side train station and walk away.

The railroad immediately stopped all train traffic as a precaution.

Police said they located the duffel bag about 15 feet from the train tracks. They shut down car and foot traffic in the area and called the Waukegan Fire Department’s bomb unit to the scene. 

Bomb technicians determined no explosives or hazardous materials were present. The bag was removed and train, car and pedestrian traffic resumed at 10:55 a.m., police said.

Meanwhile, police searched for the person later identified as Mills, who was described as a white man with a heavy beard, wearing a camouflage jacket, heavy black boots and a baseball cap, and carrying a backpack.

When police arrested Mills at CVS, they found no hazardous materials on him, they said.

Mills, who remains in custody, will be taken to a bond hearing at Lake County Jail Friday afternoon.

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