Felon Gets 12 Years In Prison For Weapons Offenses

KANE COUNTY, IL — A felon who was busted for illegally transporting guns in his pickup truck on Interstate 90 has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Kane County Judge Alice C. Tracy sentenced Lorenzo Garcia, 33, to the prison time after a jury found him guilty this past summer to several weapons offenses, including armed habitual criminal, unlawful use of a weapon - machine gun, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a. firearm without firearm owners identification, according to a news release from the Kane County State's Attorney's Office.

An Illinois State Patrol trooper pulled Garcia over at about 3:30 p.m. on March 26 after he saw the truck commit a traffic violation, according to the news release. The trooper saw drugs in the vehicle and while he was searching the vehicle, found a loaded Glock handgun equipped with a device that converts it to be fully automatic between the passenger seat and the center console.

The trooper also found three loaded ammunition magazines in the truck's glove compartment in front of where Garcia had been sitting, according to the news release.

A laboratory analysis of the gun found Garcia's fingerprint on it, prosecutors said.

Garcia, of East Chicago, Indiana will be required to serve 85 percent of his 12-year prison sentence before he is eligible for release.