Judge tells Craig Stebic: No gun card, no weapons

JOLIET — A judge agreed Tuesday to return Craig Stebic’s guns.

But it won’t happen immediately. A few details must be worked out first.
In May, the state revoked Stebic’s firearm owner identification card. By law, Stebic now cannot own or possess any guns.

During a hearing held Tuesday morning in Will County Judge Richard Schoenstedt’s courtroom, George Lenard, Stebic’s lawyer, said the guns would either be returned to a third party with a valid FOID or sold. The judge said he wanted to know who would take the weapons before he returned them. And he also suggested that Stebic and that person should come to the court hearing about the return.
Stebic didn’t attend the Tuesday hearing.

Meanwhile, state prosecutors don’t want the weapons returned, said Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Fitzgerald. “But the testing (of the guns) has been completed,” he added.

In May 2007, Plainfield police seized the 24 guns and other belongings after Stebic’s wife disappeared. Lisa Stebic, a 37-year-old mother of two, was last seen by her husband early on the evening of April 30, 2007. She either walked away or was picked up from their home at 13244 Red Star Drive in Plainfield’s Nature’s Crossing subdivision, Stebic told Plainfield police. Although her handbag and cell phone were gone, Lisa hadn’t taken her car, a Saturn Ion.

At the time of her disappearance, the couple had a rocky relationship. Stebic had filed for divorce, but they still lived together with their children in the same home. At that point, the couple barely was on speaking terms, according to Stebic.

In May 2007, Plainfield police seized the Saturn, a Chevrolet S-10 pickup with an extended cab and a tarp-covered bed, and the guns from the family’s home. Nine months later, Lenard asked them to return everything, arguing that investigators had plenty of time to examine the items. Stebic hadn’t been charged with a crime and was entitled to his belongings, he argued. Police returned the Saturn in April but kept everything else.

In a later hearing, Lenard also asked the state for photographs of the pickup truck. Although he was ready to argue the issue Tuesday, Fitzgerald suggested that it would be better to do that on Sept. 5, the date of the next hearing.

“I think the state would have to convince your honor that there was a basis not to return the photographs to me,” Lenard said.

The judge then decided to postpone the arguments on all the other issues until Sept. 5.