Three guns were seized and a Mundelein man was taken into custody during a warrant after neighbors reported to police that on several occasions the man armed himself and began searching for imaginary intruders on his property.
George L. Silva, 48, of the 26300 block of North Diamond Lake Road in unincorporated Mundelein, was charged with three counts of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, a Class 3 felony.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Warrants Team and the Sheriff Patrol Division executed an emergency firearms restraining order and search warrant at Silva’s residence on Monday.
Deputies seized a 12-gauge shotgun, SKS rifle and a semi-automatic pistol from Silva, who is a convicted felon with a revoked FOID card, according to Lake County Sheriff Spokesman Sgt. Christopher Covelli.
On Sunday, sheriff’s deputies were called to Silva’s neighbor’s residence after the neighbor felt that Silva’s behavior had become increasingly concerning, Covelli said.
Police were told that on several occasions Silva walked around his yard during the evening with a flashlight yelling at intruders.
“According to the neighbors there were no intruders and Silva was yelling at nobody. During one of the occasions, Silva, armed with a semi-automatic firearm, solicited assistance from a neighbor to search for the “intruder”,” Covelli said.
“The neighbors became very concerned with the fact Silva was acting irrationally and in possession of a firearm,” Covelli added.
Silva was taken into custody following the search warrant and the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office approved charges against the man.
“Our Patrol Division quickly recognized this individual posed a substantial risk to the community,” Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg said.
“Given the circumstances, deputies moved swiftly to petition the Court for an emergency firearms restraining order and search warrant, and when executed resulted in three illegally possessed firearms being seized. This is a textbook case of the importance of the new red flag laws in Illinois,” Idleburg added.
Silva was released from the Lake County Jail after he posted 10 percent of his $50,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court again on December 18.