A convicted felon found to be in possession of a machine gun was arrested by the Naperville police, the second such bust in less than a week, officials said.
Officers set up surveillance about 8:05 p.m. Tuesday on a car being driven by Devon Redmond, 25, of the 1800 block of Somerset Drive in Glendale Heights, who was wanted on several outstanding no-bond arrest warrants from DeKalb County, according to a release issued by the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Naperville Police Department.
When officers saw Redmond exit a house in Naperville, open the back door of his 2014 Nissan Altima to place a handbag below the driver’s seat and then get into the car to drive away, they pinned in his vehicle with their car, the report said. Redmond took off on foot but was caught.
A seach of his car turned up fully loaded Glock 23 with an extended magazine and one bullet in the chamber inside the handbag, the release said. The weapon had been modified with a switch capable of making the firearm fully automatic. Numerous pills believed to be the prescribed drug Xanax also were recovered, according to officials.
Redmond is currently on parole for convictions on aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated fleeing and eluding a police officer, the release said.
In the Tuesday arrest, he was charged with one count each of possession of a loaded machine gun and armed violence, both class X felonies, as well as one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a class 2 felony, and one count of possession of a controlled substance, a class 4 felony.
DuPage County Judge Joshua Dieden granted a motion made by state’s attorney’s office that Redmond be held in jail pending the outcome of his case, the release said. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 8.
“Within one week, the Naperville Police Department’s exceptional efforts have resulted in the removal of four dangerous firearms from those who are not legally allowed to possess them,” State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said. “What I find particularly disturbing in this case is the fact that the defendant, a convicted felon currently on parole with multiple active warrants out for his arrest, was allegedly in possession of a machine gun.”
On June 6, Naperville police arrested 19-year-old Tony Thompson, of Joliet, after officers stopped a car in which he was a passenger and found a Glock 17 9-mm firearm with a switch capable of making it fully automatic beneath his seat. He was charged with one count each of possession of a machine gun, possession of a firearm-no FOID and two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
In an unrelated case on the same day, Trensae Ware, 24, of Naperville, was arrested on charges of felony unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and felony reckless discharge of a firearm.
It’s alleged that Ware was driving when he shot a loaded .45-caliber firearm, which was recovered from below the front passenger’s seat, the report said. A spent casing and bullet were covered from the car and Ware tested positive for gun residue on his hands, officials said.
A second weapon, a 9-mm handgun, was found in the vehicle’s rear passenger compartment, the report said.