Joliet man with prior felony convictions arrested in Topgolf parking lot for having gun
Darron Prince
NAPERVILLE, Ill. - Bond has been denied for a Joliet man and convicted felon accused of illegally possessing a firearm.
Darron Prince, 36, is charged with one count of armed habitual criminal and one count of armed violence.
At about 9:34 p.m. Monday, a Naperville police officer on foot patrol at Topgolf on Odyssey Court observed an odor of cannabis coming from an unoccupied Volkswagen SUV.
Upon further inspection, the officer allegedly noticed a gun protruding from the driver's side door frame. About an hour later, Prince returned to the parking lot and entered the SUV. At that time, Naperville police officers activated their emergency lights and conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle, prosecutors said.
Prince, who was sitting in the driver's seat of the vehicle, allegedly made movements toward the door frame where the gun was located. Officers then ordered Price to stop reaching toward the door frame and was taken into custody at that time.
While searching the vehicle, police allegedly found a loaded Glock 42 handgun in the driver's side door frame, 40 grams of cannabis, 1.2 grams of mushroom, 12 grams of cocaine, 19 grams of heroin and one pill of MDMA.
Prince has pending theft and armed habitual criminal cases out of Will County as well as prior felony convictions including unlawful use of a weapon by a gang member and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.
"With multiple felony convictions, there is absolutely no justification whatsoever why Mr. Prince was in possession of a loaded firearm, as alleged in this case," said DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin. "The allegations that he was in possession of a loaded weapon at a family-friendly recreation facility are extremely troubling and if found guilty of today’s charges, he will find himself facing a significant amount of time behind bars."
Prince’s next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 27.