Two suburban men are being held in DuPage County Jail as of Monday, each charged following separate weekend arrests with having a loaded gun inside their vehicles parked at Topgolf in Naperville.
Police made the back-to-back gun-related arrests in the parking lot of the indoor recreational golf, and restaurant and bar facility, at 3211 Odyssey Court, over the weekend, according to a joint news release from the Naperville Police Department and DuPage County state’s attorney’s office Monday.
Dijon Lane, 34, of the 2900 block of 140th Place in south suburban Blue Island, is charged with armed habitual criminal, a Class X felony, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, a Class 3 felony, and misdemeanor unlawful possession of cannabis by a driver, the release states.
According to the release, Naperville police officers were on patrol in the Topgolf parking lot at around 6:30 p.m. Friday when they noticed a cannabis odor coming from a vehicle. Surveilling the vehicle, officers observed a man, later identified as Lane, enter the driver’s seat.
Officers allegedly asked Lane to exit the vehicle, then they observed a gun inside that was reportedly “in plain view” in an opening near the gas pedal, authorities stated in the release. The gun was later determined to be a loaded Taurus PT740 with eight rounds in the magazine.
Lane appeared in court Saturday in DuPage County.
Officers were again on a routine patrol in the Topgolf parking lot Saturday around 10:05 p.m. when they allegedly observed a handgun “in plain view” in a parked vehicle. The gun, later determined to be a Taurus 9mm Millenium G2 with 12 rounds in the magazine, was inside the netting pocket on the back of the vehicle’s front passenger seat, authorities said.
While officers surveilled the vehicle, a man, later identified as Tavell Jackson, 44, entered the rear passenger seat. Officers, pinning the vehicle with their squad vehicles, ordered Jackson out. As Jackson was taken into custody, officers allegedly found 12.4 grams of crack cocaine in his pocket, according to the release.
Jackson, of the 300 Block of 7th Avenue in west suburban Maywood, is charged with armed habitual criminal, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and unlawful possession of a controlled substance — all felony charges.
Jackson appeared in court Sunday.
DuPage County Judge Demetrios Panoushis granted the prosecution’s motion to deny pre-trial release for both Lane and Jackson.
“What I find particularly troubling are the allegations that both men brought a loaded firearm to a family friendly recreation facility. This type of behavior is inexcusable and will be fully prosecuted,” DuPage County state’s attorney Robert Berlin stated in the release.
Lane’s next court appearance is scheduled for April 22.
Jackson is scheduled to appear in court again April 29.
Prior to Friday, police reported that there had been 11 gun-related arrests at the Naperville Topgolf parking lot from September through early March. The weekend arrests bring that count to 13.