On October 7, law enforcement agencies consisting of the Jersey County Sheriff’s Department, Carrollton Police Department, South Central Illinois Drug Task Force and the ILEAS Team executed a search warrant in rural Jersey County on Spanky Lane. The search was granted based upon probable cause that the property contained stolen firearms and potential several automatic and/or semi-automatic weapons.
In addition, known occupants of the home were felons, and therefore unable to legally be in possession of firearms, a press release from Jersey County State's Attorney Ben Goettten said.
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After the residence was cleared by the ILEAS Team, investigators from SCIDTF, Jersey County and Carrollton PD searched the residence and outbuildings and recovered the firearm which was identified as stolen in the search warrant as well as over 50 other weapons, ranging from Glock style handguns to AR-15’s, Goetten said. The search also uncovered body armor with loaded AR-15 magazines, 30-round magazines loaded with US Carbine 30-caliber ammunition and various other rounds of miscellaneous ammunition.
Two individuals – Danny L. Kimbrell and John L. Kimbrell - were taken into custody and charged. Danny L. Kimbrell was charged with Unlawful Possession of Weapons by Felons. The charge said John L. Kimbrell committed the offense of Possession of a Stolen Firearm. The charge said: that said defendant knowingly possessed a .22 Ruger revolver with a serial number of 466495, with knowledge it had been stolen and without being able to legally possess a firearm, in violation of Chapter 720, Act 5, Section 24-3.8 (a) of the Illinois Compiled Statutes.
“I want to thank all agencies involved in the execution of this search warrant,” Jersey County State’s Attorney Ben Goetten said. “Their hard work has led to the removal of stolen weapons from circulation and taken firearms out of the hands of felons. These can be very dangerous situations.
“The ILEAS Team did an excellent job in securing the area to allow for investigators to conduct the search. We would never have been able to accomplish this without ILEAS. ILEAS is an asset to our area and the mutual aide they provide allows smaller jurisdictions like ours the opportunity to provide additional resources to keep our communities safe.”
Goetten said he wanted to make sure the community understood that cases such as these are in no way an attempt to limit anyone’s rights as gun owners.
“I know I can speak for all the departments involved in this case when I say we are all proponents of legal and responsible gun ownership. The possession of stolen weapons and the unauthorized possession of weapons by felons give responsible gun owners a bad name.
“We are all proud of our Second Amendment rights and I feel that cracking down on illegal gun possession can only strengthen those of us who choose to legally possess and responsibly use our firearms. These agencies will continue their efforts to protect our citizens while maintaining our constitutional right to bear arms.”
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