Marion man arrested after repeated trespassing, meth found during arrest

FOX23 News at 9 p.m

MARION, Ill., (KBSI) — A Marion man was arrested Friday evening after police said he repeatedly returned to a business from which he had been banned earlier in the day.

According to the Marion Police Department, officers arrested John A. Lott, 56, of Marion, around 7:15 p.m. March 13 at a business in the 2600 block of West Main Street.

Police said officers first responded to the location around 3:24 p.m. after employees reported Lott had been loitering on the property, attempted to enter a customer’s vehicle with a child inside and caused a disturbance in the store. Officers located Lott and instructed him to leave the property.

About an hour later, officers were again called to the same location after Lott returned. Police said he was formally issued a trespass warning and advised not to come back.

Officers were called back a third time around 7:15 p.m., when Lott was reportedly seen on the property again. Officers located him near the north side of the building and took him into custody.

During a search following the arrest, officers said they recovered a drawstring bag containing a hypodermic syringe with a crystalline substance. Preliminary testing identified the substance as methamphetamine, police said.

Lott was charged with criminal trespass to a building, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of methamphetamine.

He was transported to the Williamson County Jail pending a detention hearing.

All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.