911 Call, Ghost Gun Discovery Leads To Armed Habitual Criminal Charge

EVANSTON, IL — An Evanston man faces a possible mandatory prison sentence after prosecutors charged him with armed habitual criminal in connection with his most recent arrest.

Shelton Bell, 48, of the 1400 block of Greenleaf Street, has also been charged with unlawful use of a weapon after police reported they found a Polymer80 "ghost gun" and a magazine with an extended, 30-round magazine at his home, records show.

At the time of his arrest early Monday morning, Bell had been out on bond while awaiting trial on aggravated assault and illegal weapon charges in connection with a Sept. 30, 2022, arrest at his home.

The Cook County State's Attorney's Office filed a violation of that bail bond and sought to hold Bell without bail on the new charge.

Assistant State's Attorney Clara Malkin said Evanston police were called to Bell's house shortly before 5 a.m. Monday for a report of a disturbance involving a man with a gun.

"He's got a gun, and now he's trying to hide it," a 911 caller told dispatchers, according to the prosecutor.

Officers carried out a "safety sweep" of the apartment and found the loaded magazine and took Bell in for questioning, Malkin said Thursday at Bell's initial court appearance in Skokie.

"[Bell] was arrested and, while in custody, told officers that they are not going to find just one gun, they are going to find more," Malkin said. "[He] told the police sergeant that he would give up more guns if he could get out of jail more quickly."

Police then got a warrant and carried out a court-authorized search, which turned up an gun with no serial number sitting on a window sill on the outside of the house, along with a few 9mm rounds on a ground floor stairwell. Bell allegedly admitted it was his gun and told police that he moved it outside, the prosecutor said.

Greg Kobus, the assistant public defender assigned to represent Bell, pointed out his client lived on the second floor of the building, but the gun was found on the first floor.

"My client disputes admitting these things to the police that the state allegedly said that he had," Kobus said.

The defense attorney said Bell worked part-time at Jewel-Osco and Sweetgreen and has full custody of an 11-year-old child.

Since armed habitual criminal is a class X, non-probationable felony, judges have the discretion to order defendants held with no bond while awaiting trial.

According to state law, anyone who commits various gun offenses while having two or more previous felony convictions for certain offenses has committed the crime of armed habitual criminal.

Bell is eligible for the charge due to prior gun and drug convictions, all of which are more than two decades.

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"They're saying that my background is why they're trying to enhance the case?" Bell asked the judge. "Even though I haven't been in trouble in 20 years?"

"That's exactly what they're saying," Associate Judge Anthony Calabrese explained. "They have the right under the law to go back, I think as far as they want, as far as any convictions are concerned."

Calabrese denied prosecutors' petition to order Bell held without bail while awaiting trial on the armed habitual criminal charge. Instead, he ordered him jailed unless he can come up with the $10,000 cash portion of his bond. Bell had already posted $5,000 to secure his pretrial release on the September 2022 charges.

"While I recognize the defendant's limited resources," Calabrese said, "I also recognize that having a [unlawful use of a weapon] by felon pending at the time one picks up this kind of case requires the setting of bond as substantial as that."

Bell is due back in court in Skokie on March 29.