Loaded Handguns Found During 2 Separate Evanston Traffic Stops

EVANSTON, IL — Two men face gun charges after two separate Friday night traffic stops that happened a little more than four hours apart and within 2.5 miles of one another, according to Evanston police. In both cases, loaded .380 caliber handguns were recovered from the scenes, police said in a release Monday.

The first arrest happened after a stop at around 6:47 p.m. Friday, April 14, when officers noticed a passenger not wearing a seat belt in a vehicle traveling west in the 2400 block of Oakton Street. Police pulled over the vehicle in the 3000 block of Oakton in Skokie, and officers noticed the smell of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle, police said.

According to police, both the driver — a 24-year-old Morton Grove man — and the rear-seat passenger — identified as Virgil M. Houston, 23, of Skokie — allegedly admitted they had pot on them. Officers found a small amount of marijuana in the driver's pocket, and a glass jar containing pot, along with a digital scale and packing material, was found in a duffel bag belonging to Houston, police said. A search of the vehicle also uncovered a loaded Jennings-Bryco .380-caliber handgun from under the rear portion of the front passenger seat, according to police.

The two men — as well as the front-seat passenger, a 24-year-old Skokie man — were taken into custody, and Houston, of the 9400 block of Niles Center Road, Skokie, was charged with the following:

• unlawful use of a weapon by an armed habitual criminal, a Class X felony
• two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm/ammunition without FOID card, Class A misdemeanors
• unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, another Class A misdemeanor.

Houston was cited for not wearing his seat belt, as well. Citations also were given to the other two men in the vehicle. The driver was cited for marijuana possession, and the front-seat passenger was issued a citation for possession of an open alcohol container in a vehicle after officers recovered a bottle of Paul Mason brandy from his right pant leg, police said.

Just more than four hours later and about 2.5 miles away, police pulled over a vehicle with only one working headlight at around 11:09 p.m. near Lyons Street and Darrow Avenue. As the vehicle pulled to the curb, the rear passenger — identified as Kevin MJ Logan, 28 — jumped out and started walking away from the stop, according to police. An officer tried to stop Logan, who then began running, police said.

During the ensuing foot chase, police accuse Logan of tossing a loaded Ruger .380-caliber handgun near the rear of a residence in the 1700 block of Lyons before he was apprehended. Officers were able to recover the weapon, and Logan, of the 800 block of East Capril Drive, Palatine, was charged with the following:

• unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, a Class 3 felony
• possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number, also a Class 3 felony
• two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm/ammunition without FOID card, a Class A misdemeanor.

Kevin MJ Logan (left) and Virgil M. Houston (photos via Evanston Police Department)