A convicted felon who is on probation and had a GPS monitor equipped to him was arrested after he was found driving intoxicated while armed with a loaded gun in Gurnee.
The Gurnee Police Department responded around 12:05 a.m. on June 7 to a call of a vehicle stopped in the middle of the road without its hazard lights activated.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Savannah Halcomb said officers arrived and found the driver of the vehicle, Cedric L. Jones Williams, 30, of Chicago, was asleep at the wheel with a cup in his hand.
He was the sole occupant of the vehicle and officers noticed an odor of alcohol from his breath.
Halcomb said Jones Williams also had bloodshot, glassy eyes and slurred speech. The liquid in the cup smelled strongly of alcohol.
Jones Williams refused standardized field sobriety tests and was placed under arrest for driving under the influence.
A search of the vehicle revealed one to two grams of cannabis and an almost empty bottle of vodka.
Halcomb said a search of Jones Williams’ person showed that he was in possession of a loaded Glock handgun with a round in the chamber.
Two live bullets matching the ammunition in the magazine of the firearm were found in his adjacent pocket.
Halcomb said Jones Williams has a suspended driver’s license, no Firearm Owner’s Identification card and no concealed carry license.
He is also on probation for domestic battery out of Cook County and was wearing an ankle monitor.
Jones Williams was charged with felon in possession of a weapon, five counts of aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon, driving under the influence, driving on a suspended license, impeding traffic, operating an uninsured motor vehicle and transportation of alcohol by a driver.
Jones Williams is a convicted felon from an armed home invasion in 2013.
Halcomb argued that Jones Williams poses a real and present danger to the community as he has a prior felony conviction and is prohibited from possessing firearms.
“This defendant chose to carry a loaded firearm that he is not allowed to possess in his pocket while driving under the influence. This defendant was drinking inside of the car, to the point that he was sleeping while parked in the middle of the road when officers found him,” Halcomb said.
“This defendant’s actions and background show that he will not follow any conditions of pretrial release if given them, and that no conditions of pretrial release will mitigate the real and present threat that he poses,” she added.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Jones Williams pending trial but a judge denied the request and released Jones Williams.
The judge placed him on Level 3 pre-trial services monitoring while ordering him not to consume drugs or alcohol and not possess weapons.
Jones Williams is scheduled to appear in court again on July 10 for a preliminary hearing.