Crystal Lake man held in contempt of court for attending his arraignment while under the influence

A Crystal Lake man was held in contempt of court Wednesday and sentenced to the county jail for two days after showing up to his arraignment under the influence of alcohol, according to court records and Nicole Wolski, community information officer for the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Justin R. Weber, 42, of the 400 block of Brandy Drive, was set to be arraigned on two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, Class 2 felonies, as well as unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, unlawful possession of firearm without requisite Firearm Owner’s Identification card, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession of ammunition without requisite Firearm Owner’s Identification card, according to the indictment on file in the McHenry County courthouse.

Conviction on a Class 2 felony could send Weber to prison for between three and seven years. The charge also is probational.

At 12:18 p.m. on May 11, Woodstock police officers allegedly found Weber stumbling in the roadway near the intersection of McConnell Road and Courtaulds Drive. He was found to be intoxicated, according to Woodstock Police Chief John Lieb and the criminal complaint.

Officers did a safety pat-down and found Weber had an uncased, loaded and “immediately accessible” Gold Beretta 9 mm handgun. He also had eight cartridges of 9 mm ammunition, according to Lieb and the criminal complaint on file.

In 2020, Weber was convicted of being in possession of less than 15 grams of heroin, according to court records. The conviction makes him ineligible to possess firearms.

In that case from May 9, 2018, he also initially was charged with unlawful use of a weapon for allegedly being in the possession of a brass knuckles, a Class A misdemeanor, which was dismissed.

He was sentenced to two years of probation for the possession charge, according to court records.

Weber’s arraignment was rescheduled for Aug. 23. As of Thursday he did not have an attorney listed in the court files.