Belleville neighborhood deals with trash, fires and other ‘alarming’ behavior
A Belleville neighborhood is dealing with an unusual set of problems involving the 65-year-old owner of a derelict home whose behavior has been described as “alarming” by the police chief.
Kevin O. Peals Sr. was arrested June 14 on charges of threatening a public official and reckless conduct after allegedly setting a pile of trash on fire near foliage between his property and an apartment building while naked from the waist down, according to city and county records.
Peals allegedly told two Belleville firefighters multiple times that he was going to “shoot and kill them” and “burn everything to the ground,” according to Police Chief Matt Eiskant.
For months, neighbors had been complaining to city officials that Peals was taking trash out of the apartment building’s dumpster, loading it into a grocery cart, rolling it down the street and scattering it all over his front yard, sometimes in the middle of the night.
“We’ve cleaned it up at least four times,” said Scott Tyler, the city’s director of health, housing and building. “It’s a bizarre situation.”
In April, another fire badly damaged Peals’ home at 215 S. 31st St. A city investigation report states that he told officials he had ignited a piece of cardboard, hoping the smoke would get rid of ants around the window, and he also left his barbecue grill unattended.
Peals now is in St. Clair County Jail on the June 14 charges and three prior felony charges, including aggravated battery and attempted theft of a woman outside CVS, where he allegedly tried to grab her keys; and burglary at Suburban Motors, where he allegedly broke into a Ford truck.
Peals also is facing misdemeanor charges, including criminal damage to property for allegedly spray-painting five cars, and disorderly conduct.
“He’s just been terrorizing the neighborhood,” Eiskant said.
Peals has a long police record in St. Clair County, consisting of nearly 80 charges. Most involve traffic or ordinance violations, petty offenses or cannabis possession. He was convicted of felony aggravated battery in 2015 and felony aggravated DUI in 2020.
‘He wanted to fight’
Peals bought the 1924 brick bungalow with a massive front porch on South 31st Street for $24,000 in 2015, according to St. Clair County parcel records. He’s up to date on his property taxes.
Most neighbors didn’t answer door knocks by a BND reporter recently. One man, who lives in the apartment building, agreed to talk about the Peals situation but declined to identify himself.
“I saw him digging stuff out of the dumpster,” the man said. “I’m like, ‘Get out of that dumpster,’ and he got highly upset. It was like he wanted to fight. So I just stayed to myself.”
“I mind my own business,” the man added.
Peals Sr.’s son, Kevin O. Peals Jr., is listed with the same address as his father in St. Clair County Circuit Court records. However, most of his police contacts since 2017 have been in O’Fallon, Swansea or Fairview Heights.
Peals Jr. now is in jail with his father. He was arrested in February on a warrant related to 2024 drug charges.
During a traffic stop on Feb. 28, O’Fallon police allegedly found plastic bags of psilocybin mushrooms, cannabis and methamphetamine, a digital scale, a loaded pistol and more than $1,500 in cash in Peals Jr.’s black Jeep Cherokee, according to a court document supporting a property-forfeiture request.
“(Peals Jr.) stated most of the money is his, but the $100 bills belong to his father,” wrote a special agent with the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois.
“He stated he took the money from his father, because he does not want his father to purchase crack cocaine.”
After lab testing of the drugs, the state’s attorney’s office charged Peals Jr. with armed violence, unlawful possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a controlled substance and resisting a police officer.
The gun in Peals Jr.’s possession had been reported stolen in St. Louis, the court document stated. He reportedly told police he had taken it from a “kid” in an East St. Louis park who was going to do “something crazy” with it.
Two pretrial releases
Chief Eiskant and Assistant Police Chief Mark Heffernan point to the Peals Sr. case as a good example of what’s wrong with the SAFE-T Act, which was part of criminal-justice reform in Illinois that, among other things, eliminated cash bail.
The purpose is to provide criminal defendants with equal opportunity to remain free in the months or years leading up to their trials, regardless of ability to pay bail. Judges can require detention if criteria is met to show that pretrial release could risk public safety.
Peals Sr. recently was granted pretrial release twice, first in May after he was charged with aggravated battery and attempted theft and again in early June after he was charged with burglary.
“This happens often with the SAFE-T Act that we get felony charges on individuals, and they’re released right away,” Eiskant said. “The Belleville Police Department, the state’s attorney’s office and the judges all have difficult jobs to do, and we’re still doing our jobs.
“But we have to be in compliance with the SAFE-T Act, and the SAFE-T Act is why many people with felonies walk free pending trial.”
Heffernan added that police get just as frustrated as neighborhood residents when defendants end up back on the streets committing crimes, despite being arrested and charged.
Eiskant declined to speculate on whether Peals Sr.’s behavior has been the result of drug use or mental illness.
“I’ll just say that we’ve dealt with him many, many, many times,” the chief said. “We have had 41 contacts with him since Jan. 1 of this year. Some of it is calling ambulances and him going to the hospital for a variety of illnesses that he’s getting checked out.”
In early June, Belleville Building Inspector Steve Thouvenot inspected Peals Sr.’s home, where he had been living, despite utilities being turned off. Thouvenot declared it unsafe for human occupancy. He cited problems ranging from fire damage to a bad roof.
The city could proceed with condemnation in 30 days if code violations aren’t remedied, Thouvenot wrote in a letter to Peals Sr.
Photos that Tyler, the housing director, took before city employees cleaned up the property show items large and small strewn across the yard and interior rooms filled with belongings and trash.
Tyler said he asked Peals Sr. why he was hauling trash from the apartment building’s dumpster to his yard and that he responded with the old saying, ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.’”
This story was originally published June 30, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
