3 years in prison for Aurora felon who possessed gun
A 36-year-old Aurora man was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to a weapons charge after authorities searched his apartment and found two guns, drugs and cash.
Willie M. Mayes Jr. was charged with several felonies in May 2015 after Aurora police and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms searched his apartment on the 2000 block of West Illinois Avenue and found a 9 mm handgun, .38-caliber revolver, 5.3 grams of crack cocaine, 20.62 grams of marijuana and $1,759, according to authorities and court records.
Mayes, who had felony convictions and served prison time for repeat domestic abuse in 2002 and a drug charge in 2006, was not allowed to own a firearm because he is a felon.
Kane County Judge Clint Hull sentenced Mayes to prison after Mayes pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and ordered him to pay $1,180 in court fines and fees, according to court records. The weapons charge carried a prison term of three to seven years, but probation also was an option.
As part of the guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed other, less severe, charges against Mayes.
Mayes had been free on bond and his case was continued numerous times, even after a trial date had been set.
He was taken into custody after the guilty plea and can have his prison term cut in half for good behavior.
Mayes also gets credit for 90 days served at the Kane County jail before he was able to post bail.