Crest Hill man charged with possessing 3 guns, fentanyl, cocaine

A Crest Hill man is facing more than 20 felony charges across two cases filed in Will County after he was accused of unlawfully possessing three handguns and baggies containing cocaine and fentanyl.

Since July 17, Joseph Starks, 45, has been in the Will County jail after a Joliet Police Department investigation led to his arrest on multiple charges, such as possession of firearm by a repeat felony offender and possession of a controlled substance.

Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak granted prosecutors’ request to keep Starks in jail under the SAFE-T Act.

On June 12, Joliet police officers executed a search warrant at Starks’ residence in Crest Hill, according to a petition from prosecutors to keep Starks’ in jail.

Officers found a magnetic case containing an unloaded Glock 9 mm handgun and a magazine with six rounds inside of a grill that was outside near the front door of the residence, prosecutors said.

Near the front door in a bush, officers found a loaded Taurus 9 mm handgun inside of a sock, prosecutors said. A second loaded Taurus handgun was found nearby brush, prosecutors said.

Officers found a smaller magnetic container inside the grill that had three baggies of a substance that tested positive for cocaine, prosecutors said.

They found another baggie with a substance testing positive for cocaine and fentanyl, prosecutors said.

“The Ring doorbell video was reviewed and it showed [Starks] going into the grill and handling the magnetic boxes 22 times in the last 30 days,” prosecutors said.

Officers found a Springfield 9 mm handgun inside of a laundry room, prosecutors said.

Starks is charged with unlawfully possessing the Glock and Taurus firearms but not the Springfield gun.

A woman who lived with Starks told officers that she owns two firearms that should be in the laundry room but she could not describe the make or model of the guns, prosecutors said.

She denied any knowledge of drugs in the residence or anything inside or near the grill, prosecutors said.

Officers found 65 rounds of ammunition in the laundry room and at least 24 rounds of ammunition in the garage, prosecutors said.

At the time of the search warrant, Starks was on parole for a Cook County unlawful gun possession case, prosecutors said.