Streator man avoids prison after shooting gun at Leland campground

A Streator man convicted of firing a gunshot at a fire pit at Hi-Tide Campground near Leland avoided prison or jail with a last-minute agreed sentence.

Joseph Pawelczyk, 46, appeared May 12 for sentencing in La Salle County Circuit Court after being found guilty of one count of reckless discharge of a firearm.

He could have been sentenced to three years in prison or faced some combination of probation and/or jail time, but right before the scheduled hearing, attorneys in the case announced an agreed sentence.

Pawelczyk was sentenced to 36 months of probation with alcohol treatment plus assorted conditions, including no contact with the witnesses who stood around the burn pit when the shot was fired. The gun was surrendered and will be destroyed.

Pawelczyk contested the charge at a bench trial.

Witnesses testified that Pawelczyk, on June 22, wandered over from a neighboring camp site, abruptly produced a revolver and discharged it into the fire pit. Pawelczyk, in turn, testified he threw a firecracker into the fire and had, hours earlier, secured his five-shot, .22 Magnum revolver.

Plainfield attorney JohnPaul Ivec argued that the state’s witnesses had all been drinking and offered divergent descriptions of what happened.

That argument fell flat with Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. The judge acknowledged the witnesses were under the influence – “Everybody’s having a grand old time” – but the witnesses all were in close enough proximity to Pawelczyk to get a glimpse of the firearm.

“It’s kind of hard to miss a gun,” Ryan said. “I’m having a real tough time moving away from the state’s (witnesses).”