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Pontiac student pleads guilty to weapons charges
By Tony Sapochetti
tsapochetti@pantagraph.com
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PONTIAC -- A 16-year-old Odell boy pleaded guilty Wednesday to a dozen weapons charges filed after he brought six handguns in late August to Pontiac Township High School.

Sean Sullivan pleaded guilty to all 12 counts of unlawful use of a weapon, a Class 3 felony.

Sullivan testified at the trial of another teen in the case earlier this month that he stole the guns from his father and brought them to the school to sell to the other teen.

“He came clean,” said Carey Luckman, Livingston County first assistant state’s attorney. “He was able to do something that showed a rehabilitative nature. He has made consistent statements with what he said to police on that day and on the day of the trial.”

The charges, which were filed in adult court, carry a potential sentence ranging from probation to a $25,000 fine, two to five years in prison and an additional year of supervised release.

Luckman said the state will ask for no more than three years in prison for Sullivan, who remains in custody at the McLean County Juvenile Detention Center in Normal until his Jan. 2 sentencing.

Livingston County Circuit Judge Harold Frobish noted at Wednesday’s hearing he still had the authority to sentence Sullivan as he sees fit.

The school was locked down for 3½ hours and searched Aug. 28 after another student told a police officer he saw Sullivan carrying guns in his bag on the school bus, police said. Six unloaded guns were found in Sullivan’s locker, police said.

Sullivan told police he planned to sell the guns to Martin Huerta Jr., 15, of Saunemin.

Huerta, who also was tried as an adult, faced the same 12 counts, but was acquitted Nov. 8 on all but two of them. He also was acquitted of drug possession charges in the case.

Each gun led to two weapons possession counts: one for having the gun on the bus and one for having it in the school.

Huerta is scheduled to be sentenced in December.

A third teen charged as a juvenile with handling one of the guns was acquitted.

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High school student Sean Sullivan, 16, of Odell, Ill., was escorted from court in Pontiac, Ill.,Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007, after his arraignment where he was charged as an adult in an alleged plan to sell the weapons for money and cocaine. Sullivan was arrested Tuesday, August 28, 2007, after six handguns were found at the Pontiac Township High School. (AP Photo/Pontiac Daily Leader, John Holaway)
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Reader comments on this story - 5 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

livingston county crooks wrote on Nov 22, 2007 10:27 AM:

" my point is, Pontiac has been getting a lot of bad publicity recently, not all of which is due to Pontiac residents. The accused burglar from Markham who was recently arrested after a suspected break-in in Pontiac, and the two PTHS Students who got in trouble with firearms who didn't live in Pontiac. "

To: livingston county crooks wrote on Nov 22, 2007 8:08 AM:

" What is your point? "

agree wrote on Nov 22, 2007 6:54 AM:

" You know, the sad thing is, they DID migrate from other areas. These kind of people want to move to a small town, but bring their problems with them. Everytime you turn around, another house being sold to someone from Chicago. And that can't be good. "

aka wrote on Nov 22, 2007 3:40 AM:

" in other works "livingston county crooks" is saying that people from everywhere, local and visiting, commit crimes. "

livingston county crooks wrote on Nov 21, 2007 10:10 PM:

" It's not just the residents of Pontiac who break the law, it's also some of the hoodlum element from the smaller towns of Livingston county. Also whatever criminals that just happen to be passing through or migrate from other areas. "
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