Mundelein man pleads guilty, surrenders guns

A Mundelein man who admitted Tuesday he sold three of his more than 600 guns to an undercover police officer, also agreed to give up the rest of the weapons.

Michael Sonka, 55, pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon during a hearing before Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Suzanne Willett said Sonka, 910 Granville Road, had an expired federal firearms dealer's license when the Sept. 14 transaction occurred.

On that date, Sonka sold three 9 mm handguns and five boxes of ammunition to an officer of the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group.

He was charged because he did not wait the required three days after the sale to turn over the weapons.

Police arrested Sonka and confiscated 636 rifles and handguns worth a total of $300,000 to $400,000 and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Sonka will give 29 confiscated weapons to the Mundelein Police Department.

Those weapons include four AR-15 rifles, an AK47, an M-1 rifle and several handguns. The department will also receive about 9,000 rounds of confiscated ammunition.

The rest of the cache will be sold at an auction house, Willett said, and Sonka will receive 60 percent of the proceeds.

The balance will be split between Mundelein and MEG, Willett said.

A more serious charge of gun running was dismissed in exchange for Sonka's guilty plea.

Rossetti placed Sonka on probation for two years and told him the felony conviction means he can no longer own or possess firearms.