CHICAGO — The man accused of bringing 41 pounds of weed in his luggage to O’Hare International Airport last summer has been sentenced to probation.
Rhashad Barnes, 27, cut a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to a downgraded manufacture-delivery charge. Judge Ursula Walowski ordered him to keep his nose clean for two years.
On August 17, 2024, the Sacramento County, California, Sheriff’s Office notified CPD that Barnes had boarded a flight to O’Hare with luggage stuffed with bricks of marijuana, according to a Chicago police report.
While Barnes was on his way home to Chicago, the California authorities sent CPD pictures of him, his suitcases, the suitcase contents, his luggage tags, and more, the report said.
CPD officers “formulated a plan” to arrest Barnes when he arrived, an officer wrote in the report. They found him at baggage claim carousel #3 after his United Airlines flight landed around 1 p.m.
After he retrieved his two bags, officers approached Barnes and asked him about the contents. According to his arrest report, he told the cops, “there was ‘a little weed’ in there.”
In fact, police said Barnes’ luggage contained 41 heat-sealed packages of “green leafy substance” that they believed was marijuana. In total, the packages weighed just over 41 pounds.
A charging document valued the suspected marijuana at $296,024.
Prosecutors initially charged him with cannabis trafficking, a Class X felony carrying a minimum six-year prison sentence. But he scratched out a deal that allowed him to receive probation by pleading guilty to a reduced charge of manufacture-delivery of 2,000 to 5,000 grams of cannabis, court records show.
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