Champaign man charged after cannabis, gun, weapon accessories found in car | Courts-police-fire

URBANA — A Champaign man who was in a car that had cannabis, a gun and other weapon accessories in it has been charged with armed violence.

A University of Illinois police report said an officer did a license-plate check just before 5 p.m. Monday on a car going west on Springfield Avenue in Champaign. The owner, later identified as driver Sabir R. Muhammad, 23, who listed an address in the 1600 block of Carolyn Drive, was found to have a suspended driver’s license.

The report said he admitted to the officer he should not have been driving.

The report also said the car was associated with a domestic-battery case in which people fled from police.

Muhammad admitted to the officer he had smoked cannabis in the car a few hours earlier.

A search of the car turned up a backpack in the trunk that had a loaded Glock .40-caliber handgun, another loaded magazine and four plastic bags containing about 4 ounces of cannabis.

In the car, police found a magazine speed loader, a laser sight for a handgun, four cellphones, a pistol grip and part of a handguard for an assault-style rifle, an owner’s manual for another kind of pistol, Muhammad’s revoked firearm owner’s identification card, plastic sandwich bags, and a box for a digital scale.

Muhammad admitted to police that the backpack, gun and cannabis were his.

If convicted of armed violence, Muhammad faces six to 30 years in prison. Court records show he also has an unresolved charge of aggravated driving under the influence from an October arrest.

Judge Brett Olmstead set his bond at $150,000 and told him to be in court May 3 for a probable-cause hearing.