An Illinois felon who brandished a loaded handgun during a live video post on Facebook and then was arrested by police who recognized the location where the video was being shot has been sentenced to three years in prison, according to court records.
Stephen Adams, 24, of Evanston, pleaded guilty Jan. 25 to felony unlawful use of a weapon by a felon at the Skokie courthouse, authorities said. They said he also was sentenced to two years of mandatory supervised released and that other charges were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea.
Evanston police stopped the car Adams was riding in December 2016 after watching a Facebook Live post of Adams and four other people driving around in a vehicle and flashing a handgun, said authorities. They said that as police were watching the live Facebook video post, they determined the vehicle was in an alley in the 800 block of Clark Street in the north suburb. When officers showed up a short time later, the men in the vehicle ran but Adams fell in the snow, dropped a loaded Glock .40-caliber handgun and was arrested, court records show.
The other passengers in the vehicle with Adams went into a nearby restaurant, and the driver, who was on parole at the time, was charged with unlawful contact with street gang members, according to court documents. They said the other three passengers were not charged.
At the time of Adam’s arrest, Evanston police said they monitor social media for criminal activity and that is how they saw the Facebook post.
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