A suburban Chicago man has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of trafficking firearms and drugs. Efrain Jacobo, 42, from Prospect Heights, Illinois, faces federal firearm and drug offenses as outlined in an indictment returned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Jacobo pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in federal court and remains detained.
The indictment and a previously filed criminal complaint allege that Jacobo conducted multiple transactions involving six handguns, a rifle, ammunition, methamphetamines, and cocaine last fall in Joliet, Illinois. The individual to whom he sold these items was reportedly an undercover law enforcement officer.
Law enforcement officials seized approximately 150 kilograms of methamphetamines from a truck traveling from Texas to Bolingbrook, Illinois. Additional seizures included fentanyl and cocaine from a storage facility used by Jacobo in Wheeling, Illinois, as well as more cocaine found in his vehicle.
The announcement of the indictment was made by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Christopher Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; Sheila G. Lyons, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; and Mike Rompa, Chief of the Bolingbrook Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret A. Steindorf is representing the government.
It is important to note that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
