Former McHenry fugitive gets probation on Kane drug charges
A 32-year-old Elgin man who was once a Top 10 wanted fugitive in McHenry County recently pleaded guilty to cocaine charges in Kane County and was sentenced to four years of probation.
Cecil T. Barnes, of the 800 block of Shady Oaks Drive, Elgin, and the 5800 block of North Winthrop Avenue, Chicago, also served 212 days in jail on the charges from a December 2011 arrest in Carpentersville and must pay a $3,000 fine, according to Kane County court records.
If he violates probation, he could be resentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
Judge John Barsanti accepted the plea earlier this month.
In the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed more serious charge of selling cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school, in this case Lakewood Elementary School. This charge carried a prison term of six to 30 years without the chance for probation.
Barnes, who was on McHenry County's Top 10 Most Wanted list, was arrested last July in Destin, Fla., by the U.S. Marshal's Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force.
McHenry County authorities were looking for him since February 2012 after an arrest warrant was issued for delivery of a controlled substance.
Barnes pleaded guilty to the McHenry charges in August 2013 and was sentenced to two years of probation, 180 days in jail, ordered to pay nearly $4,800 in fines and court costs and undergo drug and alcohol counseling, court records show.
If he violates his McHenry County probation, he also could be resentenced to up to 15 years in prison.