A year shy of finishing up 12-year drug sentence, Rock Falls man charged with delivering cocaine near school

MORRISON – A Rock Falls man who served prison time for a murder in Cook County and who is now out on parole for a 2018 drug conviction that landed him a 12-year prison sentence has once again been charged with drug offenses in Whiteside County.

John Trumbla, 56, appeared Tuesday, May 27, in Whiteside County Circuit Court on five drug charges – one of them a Class X felony accusing him of delivering cocaine during school hours within 500 feet of Merrill School. If he is convicted, he faces a possible 30-year sentence and a sentence enhancement because he has previous drug-related convictions.

Other charges filed against him in the case include one count of delivery of 1 to 15 grams of cocaine, a Class 1 felony; and three counts of delivery of less than 5 grams of meth. Court documents list three separate dates on which the alleged offenses occurred – March 25, 2024; April 10, 2024; and April 24, 2024.

The newest charges were filed in January; he was arrested on a warrant, taken into custody Friday, May 23, and was held in the Whiteside County Jail until Tuesday, May 27, when he was granted pretrial release. According to court records, prosecutors did not file a petition asking for Trumbla to be detained. His pretrial release conditions include being placed on home detention with a GPS monitor and to abstain from using drugs. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is set to appear in court June 16 for a preliminary hearing.

The charges come just one year before his planned sentence discharge date in a 2015 Whiteside County drug case in which he pleaded guilty to one charge in 2017, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

In that case, filed in March 2015, he pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of cannabis with intent to deliver more than 500 but less than 2,000 grams; and one count of unlawful possession of cannabis, more than 500 and less than 2,000 grams. Four charges of delivery of cannabis were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

He served five years of the 12-year sentence; he was released from prison and placed on parole in June 2023. His sentence discharge date in the case was set for June 2026, according to the IDOC.

Also according to the IDOC, Trumbla was taken into custody in a 1984 Cook County murder case when he was 15 years old and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Court documents indicate that he had completed his sentence and was discharged in that case, as well as for the following convictions, all of them in Whiteside County:

• A four-year prison sentence for a 2002 conviction of possessing a stolen vehicle
• A 10-year prison sentence for a 2007 conviction of delivery of cannabis, 2,000 to 5,000 grams. Four weapons charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal.
• A five-year prison sentence for a 2015 conviction of driving with a suspended license in a 2014 case.