Two men, both on electronic monitoring (EM) while charged with being felons in possession of firearms, were arrested together on a West Side street Tuesday afternoon. Prosecutors said one of them — who was put on EM exactly one week earlier — was openly carrying a gun with a 50-round drum magazine attached. They were both allegedly holding narcotics packaged for distribution.
In another EM success story, a seven-time felon is accused of breaking into a suburban bar and stealing $23,000 from gambling machines — six months after he went missing from electronic monitoring on a burglary charge.
A two-fer
The 3900 block of West Jackson is ripped by narcotics activity and gang violence. There have been three murders and five other shootings on the block in the past 19 months, according to CPD records.
So, police try to keep an eye on it.
Around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, cops watching a CPD surveillance camera on the block saw Kyle Linton carrying a gun with a drum magazine on the street with another man nearby, prosecutors said. Patrol units responded to the area and arrested Linton after a short foot chase.
When they caught up with him, Linton, 25, pulled the gun and drum magazine out and placed it on the ground, said Assistant State’s Attorney Loukas Kalliantasis. The magazine had a capacity of “at least 50 rounds,” he added. Cops also found 16 baggies of heroin and 14 capsules of an unknown narcotic in his possession, Kalliantasis said.
Just one week earlier, Judge Kenneth Wadas released Linton on a recognizance bond with electronic monitoring after prosecutors charged him with Class X armed habitual criminal, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, according to court records.
In that case, cops watching a surveillance camera on the same block allegedly saw Linton standing with a juvenile who was holding something that appeared to be a firearm in his waistband. Patrol officers went to the scene to investigate. They found a handgun in Linton’s waistband, prosecutors said. Details about what happened with the juvenile were not available.
When police saw Linton holding the gun on the street Tuesday, he was with Davionne Carr, 25, prosecutors said. Cops arrested Carr, who was also on electronic monitoring for being a felon in possession of a firearm, because he allegedly carried 11 capsules of crack cocaine, Kalliantasis said.
According to court records, Carr’s gun case stems from a December 2020 incident on the same block of Jackson Boulevard.
In that incident, cops said they saw him walking down the street and recognized him as someone who recently fled and eluded them, prosecutors said. He allegedly grabbed a bulge in his jacket and ran when officers approached. They chased him.
During the pursuit, Carr pulled a gun from the jacket pocket and threw it over a fence, according to the allegations. Cops arrested him as he pounded on the back door of a house, begging for help because the police were chasing him, prosecutors said.
Officers recovered a loaded handgun from behind the fence where Carr allegedly tossed the firearm.
Prosecutors said he has felony convictions for robbery and forgery in Wisconsin and narcotics in Illinois. A judge put him on electronic monitoring on January 24 after he failed to appear for a court date, court records show.
His defense attorney said he is the father of two children and works as a handyman. Carr is now being held without bail in the 2020 gun case. His bail on the new charges was set at $2,000 by Judge Maryam Ahmad.
During a bail hearing on Wednesday, Linton’s public defender argued that he might have been carrying a gun with a 50-round magazine for self-defense since the prosecution painted the neighborhood as dangerous.
Judge Ahmad didn’t buy it.
“A drum magazine is not personal protection hardware. That is firepower that is used for acts of violence,” Ahmad countered. “Self-defense is not an issue here.”
She ordered Linton held without bail on charges of Class X armed habitual criminal and possession of a controlled substance.
“In a casino with a girl”
Emery Woods has a significant criminal background, according to prosecutors. In 2012, he pleaded a murder case down to armed robbery in exchange for an 18-year sentence. That same year he received sentences for aggravated battery and two aggravated robberies. He was convicted of armed robbery in 2007 and a gun charge in 2005.
In 2019, he picked up a new burglary case. A judge put him on electronic monitoring in July 2021. Just six weeks later, the judge issued an arrest warrant when Woods failed to appear in court.
Cops found him around 3 a.m. on February 3 in the beer garden of a suburban bar, which was closed but had its back door broken in. He allegedly told officers that he had been “hanging out in a casino with a girl.”
Prosecutors gave a slightly different version of his activities.
They say shortly before cops found Woods, he and another man broke into a different bar and stole over $23,000 from the gaming terminals. The men ran out the back door when police arrived, but surveillance cameras recorded the burglary.
Officers found Woods while checking other bars in the area for signs of break-ins. He was allegedly wearing the same clothes as one of the burglars who broke into the gaming machines. And he was carrying $345 in five-dollar bills, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said.
Gaming machine break-in or not, “he was on EM at the time that he was hanging out, according to him, in a casino with a girl,” Murphy said.
Carr’s private defense attorney suggested “significant and unique circumstances” were involved. He found employment while on electronic monitoring and is expecting a new daughter on Saturday, she said.
Judge Charles Beach said Carr had been given a chance to stay out of jail and then violated a “social contract.” He ordered him held in lieu of $400,000 on a charge of escape. Another judge held him on $50,000 bail for the bar burglary.