CHICAGO — A man who told Chicago cops he was unhappy that they “jacked my s**t” after the officers confiscated his AR-15 rifle, machine gun, and other contraband in Bucktown has been given a five-year prison sentence.
Riley Rice, 27, pleaded guilty on Friday to possessing a machine gun and possessing a rifle in exchange for the sentence from Judge Aleksandra Gillespie, according to court records.
Police initially responded to calls of shots fired in the 2200 block of North Leavitt around 2:15 a.m. on November 4, 2023. They found 17 shell casings at the scene and met with witnesses who saw a man grab a black bookbag from under an SUV and walk away with a woman after the gunfire, officials said.
Cops stopped Rice in the 2200 block of West Dickens because he was carrying a black bag while walking with a woman, according to the report. When he set the bag down, the cops heard the sound of a “large object” hitting the ground. One cop peered into the partially open bag and saw the barrel of a loaded AR-15 rifle, the report said.
“I got another one on me,” Rice allegedly told the cops while peering down at his waistband.
Officers recovered a 9-millimeter handgun with a high-capacity magazine and an auto-sear switch attached, police said. Those aftermarket switches are illegal because they can make handguns generate automatic fire like a machine gun.
Police said they found 22 bags of suspected crack cocaine worth $2,214 inside a Hermès bag in Rice’s pants pocket and a chocolate bar suspected of containing psilocybin in his jacket. Ultimately, though, prosecutors dropped all of the narcotics-related charges he faced.
Rice refused to answer any questions after police read him his rights, but the officers recalled him saying something to the effect of “I don’t like how [an arresting officer] jacked my s**t.” The cops took that to mean Rice was claiming possession of the confiscated materials.
The machine gun count was among two Class X felony charges he faced. The other, armed violence, was dropped by prosecutors along with a handful of lesser felonies. Armed violence is a charge that simply means someone is accused of possessing a firearm and narcotics at the same time. Despite the name, no violence is needed to be charged.
Rice’s plea came one day after Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke announced that front-line prosecutors are no longer allowed to “plead down” machine gun possession charges so a defendant can avoid prison time.
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