La Salle man gets probation after being accused of brandishing rifle near EPA workers

A La Salle man was placed on nonreporting probation after pleading guilty Friday to two misdemeanors filed after he brandished an assault rifle with Environmental Protection Agency workers nearby.

Israel Castelan, 53, pleaded guilty in La Salle County Circuit Court to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm without a firearm owner’s identification card and one count of obstructing identification, both Class A misdemeanors carrying a sentence of up to a year in jail.

A second count of misdemeanor firearm possession was dismissed as part of the plea.

In exchange for his plea, Castelan was sentenced to one year of conditional discharge. The gun will be forfeited and destroyed, attorneys said in open court.

Castelan declined an opportunity to address Circuit Judge Michelle A. Vescogni before sentencing.

Castelan was charged in October after an investigation in September.

About 10 a.m. Sept. 30 in the 1000 block of Third Street, police said, a male subject “exited the house and stood on his porch holding an assault rifle and pointing it at the ground” while speaking to the EPA workers, who had been conducting soil sampling and remediation throughout the city.

Castelan had never been issued a FOID card in Illinois.