Mt. Prospect student faces weapons charges

Two college students, including one from Mount Prospect, is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to face charges related to the cache of weapons found in their vehicle on a country road outside Macomb.

Nicholas R. Holik, 20, of Mount Prospect, and Bryce A. Standley, 25, of Macomb, both students at Western Illinois University, were arrested and each charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

Both men were released from the McDonough County Jail after posting 10 percent of their $25,000 bonds, according to published reports.

The weapons discovery was made during a traffic stop at 2:41 a.m. Thursday in an area northwest of Macomb, McDonough County Sheriff Rick VanBrooker said. The deputies observed a "suspicious vehicle" and stopped it for a traffic violation.

Deputies searched both the vehicle, a Dodge pickup, and the men. They found both men to be wearing bulletproof vests, VanBrooker said.

They also discovered two loaded .223 caliber rifles with silencers, optical sites and laser pointers attached; one loaded .22-caliber pistol with silencer and laser attached; another loaded .22-caliber pistol with silencer and laser; two military gas masks; two military night vision goggles; one silencer; 22 AR-15 loaded magazines; 120 12-gauge shotgun shells; 30 20-gauge shotgun shells; 85 .40-caliber shells; and five .45-caliber shells, reports said.

Holik's attorney, Craig Pierce said Sunday that the two men were on Standley's grandfather's property coyote hunting and target shooting.

"They realize what they did was not very intelligent," Pierce said. "But they were out there coyote hunting."

As to why they had the military equipment, Pierce said: "They are just kind of into the military stuff. One's a veteran, and my client is a very interested military-type guy. But as far as being fanatics or crazies, there is no way."

He said neither has a prior criminal record.

In his motion to dismiss the charges, Pierce said what the police characterized as silencers were actually "recoil suppressors," which, he said, do not fit into that classification.

He added that it is doubtful there was probable cause to stop the vehicle, "other than being out early in the morning."

Pierce said a speeding ticket was issued "after the fact" but there was no radar and they were going under 50 miles an hour. Pierce said the two had just fixed a flat tire and were heading down a country road.

Bonnie Barker, WIU's assistant director of university relations, said the two students have been suspended and barred from campus, pending a student judicial hearing.

Both were students in good standing. Standley had served in the military in Afghanistan and was a board of trustees major, an independent major for adult students who can apply both life experience and academic credits toward their degree, Barker said.

Holik, a junior, was majoring in construction management. Both students, were members of the scuba diving club, Barker said.

Pierce said both men live in the Macomb area and trying to make arrangements to take their finals.

VanBrooker said Sunday that the sheriff's office is continuing its investigation.

"Any amount of weaponry and bulletproof vests found at that time of night is very concerning," he said.