Rolling Meadows man sentenced to 6 years on weapons charge

A 21-year-old Rolling Meadows man on parole for recklessly discharging a firearm in 2015 pleaded guilty Monday to another weapons charge and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Ivan Avila pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. He was sentenced to prison, with 130 days credit for time already spent in custody, and ordered to pay $459 in fines.

Avila was riding in a car with co-defendant and driver Julio Puente about 9:30 p.m. Jan. 12 near Algonquin Road and Cedar Glen Drive in Arlington Heights when an officer stopped the car for a tinted window violation, said Denise Loiterstein, Cook County assistant state's attorney.

The officer smelled marijuana and asked the men to step out of the car. When Avila got out, the officer saw a .38-caliber revolver on the seat where he was sitting, Loiterstein said.

Avila later told authorities that Puente handed him the gun after the officer stopped the car and he put it under him, Loiterstein said.

Puente returns to court on June 27.