Man charged after drugs found hidden inside restaurant
A Bridgeview man is being held without bail after being charged with possession of a controlled substance after an Oak Lawn restaurant found drugs hidden in a restroom ceiling.
Awadh A. Abudayeh, 27, a resident of 79th Street in Bridgeview, allegedly left one gram of suspected cocaine and two containers holding more than 100 prescription tranquilizer pills in the restroomceiling atHooters, 9159 CiceroAve., police said.
Police said Abudayeh hid the drugs Oct. 3 after a passenger overdosed in his car. Paramedics transported that passenger to a medical facility, and police released Abudayeh, who identified himself asEhyabKaddoura, and a second passenger from the scene, police said.
A suspicious manager at Hooters sent an employee into the restroom after seeing Abudayeh go inside, and the employee noticed shoe prints on a toilet seatanda ceiling tile out of place, police said. Restaurant employees retrieved the drugs above the ceiling and turned them over to police.
Witnesses told police Abudayeh returned to the restaurant after officers left. He again visited the restroom, immediately exited and demanded,
“Where’smy stuff?” police said. Failing to receive a satisfactory answer, Abudayeh said, “People are going to start getting hurt here if I don’t get my stuff,” police said.
While being taken into custody, Abudayeh told an Oak Lawn officer he has been living in Bridgeview with family for30 days and didn’t register as a sex offender because he was registered in North Carolina, police said. The North Carolina Bureau of Investigation’s sex offender registry shows Abudayeh last registered in December 2019.
Abudayeh is charged with two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, three counts of possession of a controlled substance, and failure to register as a sex offender, along with misdemeanor charges of obstructing identification, disorderly conduct and assault, according to Cook County court records.
He is also being held on a Raleigh, North Carolina nobond, parole violation warrant related to convictions on sexual battery, taking indecent liberties with a child and defacing a firearm, as well as a Cook County probation violation warrant for felony retail theft, police said.
A bu day eh waived ex tradition on the North Carolina warrant and remains in Cook County Jail, according to Cook County court records. He is scheduled to appear in Cook County court Oct. 26.