A Chicago man who served an 8½-year prison sentence for a 2011 armed robbery in which a victim was shot has been detained after police allegedly found a machine gun hidden in his car door panel during a traffic stop in the Loop.
Devonte Matticx was 16 in 2011 when Kane County prosecutors charged him with attempted murder, accusing him of being one of five people who robbed a man during a marijuana deal and shot the victim in the leg. Matticx eventually pleaded guilty to armed robbery.
Now 31, Matticx was behind the wheel of a Jeep Cherokee around 1 a.m. on July 26 when Chicago police stopped him in the first block of East Wacker Drive for double-parking and having heavily tinted windows, according to a detention filing.
Matticx refused to fully lower all of his windows despite repeated commands from officers, prosecutors said. When cops used a tint meter to measure the darkness of the Jeep’s windows, it registered at 14%, which is darker than the legal limit, according to the filing.
Prosecutors said Matticx appeared “extremely nervous” while speaking with police and was unable to provide a driver’s license. As he showed an officer proof of insurance on his phone, his hand was “visibly shaking and unsteady,” according to the detention filing. Police determined Matticx’s license had been suspended, ordered everyone out of the Jeep and arrested him.
During a search of the vehicle, an officer noticed that the Jeep’s driver-side power window switch panel was loose and misaligned. When the officer lifted the panel, it revealed a hidden compartment containing a loaded Glock .40-caliber handgun equipped with a machine gun switch, prosecutors said.
An officer noted in Matticx’s arrest report that Matticx made three calls from the arrest scene, including one to his wife during which he stated, “I ain’t no rat. I’ll take the hit.”
Judge James Murphy III granted the state’s request to detain Matticx. He is charged with multiple felonies, including possession of a machine gun and concealing a firearm in a false compartment.
In addition to the robbery conviction, Matticx was convicted of possessing a defaced firearm in 2019 and received a two-year sentence, according to court records.
