A Potential Disaster

September 19, 2007

By FRANK ABDERHOLDEN

The arsenal inside the Mundelein Police Department was impressive: A .50-caliber handgun known as the "hand cannon," a semi-automatic Uzi machine gun, antique rifles, an assortment of knives and .38-caliber handguns.

And the weapons on display were only half of the guns and rifles confiscated Friday from the home of Michael Sonka, 55, of 910 Granville Ave., Mundelein. There were a total of 636 firearms, plus the three 9mm handguns that undercover police purchased along with five boxes of ammunition.

Lake County authorities confiscated more than 600 guns and rifles during a sting operation at the Mundelein home of Michael Sonka (inset).
(Thomas Delany Jr./News-Sun)

"It was one of the largest (gun seizures) in Lake County history," said Larry Lindenman, a master sergeant with the Illinois State Police and executive director of the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group.

The guns were valued at between $300,000 and $400,000, and police also confiscated more than $4,000 in cash.

"I saw the police go up there on Friday," said 84-year-old Mabel Krueger, who lives a few doors down from Sonka. Another neighbor who wanted to remain anonymous said, "I am surprised (by the number of guns). I never noted anything strange. I know who he is, but he stuck to himself. I'm really shocked. He seems like a good neighbor," she said.

Another neighbor, Wendy Theresi, 46, said she wasn't bothered about the news. She has lived there 12 years and raised three children in what she described as a "wonderful neighborhood. We're adding an addition because we don't want to move," she said.

Sonka, who is retired, has had a Federal Firearms License since July 1989, but he didn't start recording a lot of sales activity until 2001. The license allows an individual to engage in a business pertaining to the manufacture of firearms and ammunition or the interstate and intrastate sale of firearms. He ran into problems with the village because he was running the business out of his home.

"This was certainly not something we want going on in a residential neighborhood," said Mundelein Police Chief Raymond Rose. "If you are going to run a business, you have to do it the right way," he said.

"We're very fortunate and he's very fortunate that he wasn't set up. This was a potential disaster," Rose said, referring to the fact that not all the weapons were locked in storage lockers.

"That was an obligation he had. He was a potential hazard to the community," Rose said.

Mundelein police developed information that Sonka was selling guns out of his house and his Federal Firearms License had expired four months earlier. They worked with MEG to set up a sting, and on Friday Sonka allegedly sold the guns and ammunition to an undercover police officer during a short meeting.

Sonka was charged with gun running, a Class 1 felony, for selling three or more guns and unlawful sale of a firearm for not enforcing the three-day "cooling off period" and failed to do the necessary paperwork for the sale. He was also cited under village ordinance for not having a business license. He was released on a $75,000 signature bond.

If he is convicted, the firearms would most likely be destroyed.