WIU students arrested with “cache” of weapons
Posted by: Joshuah in Wars and Rumors of wars, tags: ammunition, guns, paraphernaliaSource: pjstar.com
Two men were stopped for speeding early Thursday in a truck filled with loaded guns, ammunition and military-style paraphernalia, and a comparable amount of weapons was found at one of their homes, authorities said.Bryce A. Standley, 25, of Macomb and Nicholas R. Holik, 20, of Mount Prospect were charged Thursday in McDonough County court with three counts each of aggravated unlawful use of weapons and unlawful use of weapons.
Standley and Holik, both students at Western Illinois University, were released from jail Thursday afternoon on $25,000 bond each.
Both men have Illinois Firearm Owner’s Identification cards.
A sheriff’s deputy stopped their pickup truck northwest of Macomb near McDonough County roads East 750th and North 1700th at about 2:40 a.m. Thursday.
Prosecutors said the truck was stopped in the roadway near a home but made a U-turn and drove away as the deputy approached. The pickup was then stopped for speeding 70 mph in a 55 mph zone.
A later search of the vehicle turned up two rifles and two loaded pistols, most or all with paraphernalia including silencers, optical sites and laser pointers attached. One of the pistols, a .22-caliber, was under the driver’s seat, while the other was under the passenger’s seat.
Also in the vehicle, police found two military gas masks, two sets of military night vision goggles, 22 AR-15 loaded magazines and nearly 250 ammunition shells. Both men were also wearing bulletproof vests.
Prosecutors said the men told police they had fired the weapons at targets before they were stopped and that they were coyote hunting.
“There is absolutely no evidence of anything sinister here,” said Holik’s defense attorney, Craig Pierce of Bushnell, in arguing for a lower bond.
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