Round Lake Park police dog credited for arrest
Round Lake Park's police dog handler is crediting his partner for the quick capture of a man accused of attacking his wife in the couple's home and then fleeing.
Detective Tony Colon said Blade, a 6-year-old German shepherd, needed no more than four minutes to find the suspect wedged under a backyard deck of another house about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.
“It just shows how important a dog is to a police department,” Colon said Thursday.
Ryan Fecht, 19, of the 500 block of Fairlawn Drive in Round Lake Park, was charged with domestic battery, police said. He was held in the Lake County jail Thursday on 10 percent of $5,000 bail.
Police Chief George Filenko said the 19-year-old victim summoned officers, who found her with a swollen face, cut fingers and a mark on her neck. Filenko said the woman, who was treated at the scene, told authorities Fecht hit her with a telephone.
“She said that he also may have fled with a steak knife in hand,” said Filenko.
Colon said responding officers called for the canine unit. He said Blade picked up Fecht's scent behind the Fairlawn Drive home, which led the pair roughly 100 yards to the 500 block of Forest Glen Drive.
“Blade starts barking because he's getting closer to this guy,” Colon said.
Colon said he saw a gray sweatshirt under the Forest Glen Drive house's backyard deck after the dog tugged in that direction. Fecht — who's 5 feet, 7 inches and 140 pounds — had about a 1-foot opening to slip under the deck.
Fecht didn't immediately obey an order to surrender or risk having the dog being sent to get him, police said.
“He came out when Blade started barking,” said Colon.
Colon said Fecht didn't have a weapon when he was arrested.
Blade was singled out for praise in January 2010 when he found a capped cardboard tube hidden in a home's closet that authorities said contained 294 grams of cocaine.
In November 2009, police said Blade helped them find crack cocaine in an apartment with a $9,000 street value while assisting on a call in neighboring Round Lake Beach.
Authorities said the dog found six pounds of wrapped marijuana hidden in grease in a car trunk in Round Lake Park in August 2009. Police said the weed had a $10,000 street value.