Mundelein man admits drug possession

A Mundelein man faces up to four years in prison after admitting Thursday he had a small amount of heroin with him when police searched a car in which he was a passenger.

Robert Mann, 21, will also be eligible for probation when he returns to court to be sentenced on a date not yet set.

Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Rod Drobinski said Mann, of the first block of West Lakeview Drive, was a passenger in a car stopped by Mundelein police on Jan. 5 for expired license plates.

The driver of the vehicle gave police permission to search the car, Drobinski said, and a small plastic bag containing about one gram of heroin was found in Mann’s pocket.

Court records show Mann was sentenced to two years in prison on Nov. 5, 2010 after pleading guilty to an Aug. 28, 2009 arrest for possession of a controlled substance. Because he had already spent more than a year in jail before entering that guilty plea, Mann was released on parole Dec. 20.

Defense attorney Elliot Pinsel asked Circuit Judge Daniel Shanes to order substance abuse and intensive probation evaluations for his client.

Shanes did so, and told the parties in the case to return to court Oct. 3 for sentencing.

Mann will remain in the Lake County jail until his sentencing hearing.