A 23-year-old Rolling Meadows man will remain in custody pending trial after Elmhurst police say they discovered a stolen handgun modified to shoot like a machine gun tucked beneath the driver’s seat of his car. Iziah Benavidez is now facing a Class X felony charge of unauthorized possession of a weapon—machine gun—as well as burglary, retail theft, and felon-in-possession charges resulting from an August 18 traffic stop.
According to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office, the investigation began on August 9 when loss prevention officers at Kohl’s at 303 S. According to Route 83 in Elmhurst, two male individuals took a rucksack from the store, concealed extra products within, and fled without paying. Elmhurst police also learned that Benavidez reportedly stole a battery charger from the same Kohl’s earlier in the day. The two suspects fled the scene in a Nissan, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
According to the state’s attorney’s office, Elmhurst police employed technology to inform officers when a known theft suspect returned to the scene of a previous crime, allowing officers to locate and execute a traffic stop on the Nissan allegedly used by the two suspects. Benavidez was identified as one of the two male individuals and safely apprehended after exiting the vehicle, according to the office.
Officers reportedly discovered a loaded 10mm Glock 29 behind the driver’s seat, equipped with an automatic fire switch and a 24-round magazine. A second firearm, a 9mm pistol, was discovered in the glove box, and a battery charger was discovered in plain sight in the Nissan’s backseat, according to the state’s attorney’s office. FOX 32 Chicago stated that the Glock 29 was reported stolen to the Chicago Police Department in January 2026.
Benavidez was charged with one case of unauthorized possession of a weapon-machine gun, a Class X felony; one count of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, a Class 3 felony; one crime of burglary, a Class 2 felony; and two counts of retail theft, one a Class 3 felony and the other a misdemeanor. Following his arrest, he was also cited for driving with a revoked license under Case No. 2026CF001686, according to a DuPage Mugshots post about the case.
According to Shifrin Law Group’s legal analysis, possessing a loaded machine gun or a handgun modified with an automatic conversion device inside a vehicle’s passenger compartment is a Class X felony punishable by a mandatory prison term of six to 30 years and no eligibility for probation. Separately, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon under 720 ILCS 5/24-1.1 is typically a Class 3 felony punishable by two to ten years in prison, but when the firearm involved is a machine gun, the offense escalates to a Class X felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison, as explained by Dolci & Weiland — meaning Benavidez’s prior felony conviction significantly increases his potential exposure.
Circuit Judge Joshua Dieden granted the state’s motion to deny Benavidez pre-trial release, according to the state attorney’s office. In September 2023, Illinois became the first state in the country to eliminate cash bail under the Pretrial Fairness Act, which requires prosecutors to petition judges to detain high-risk felony defendants before trial if they pose a threat to public safety or a flight risk, as Hoodline previously reported.
According to DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin, Benavidez is a convicted felon who has forfeited his legal right to own a handgun, and an unlawfully acquired firearm modified for automatic fire poses an increased risk to communities. He stated that public safety remains his office’s primary priority, while also emphasizing that the complaint only contains charges and is not proof of Benavidez’s guilt and that a defendant is assumed innocent until the government achieves its burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Benavidez is scheduled to appear in court on September 14 before Circuit Judge Ann Celine O’Hallaren Walsh, who has previously presided over major illegal firearm conversion device prosecutions in DuPage County, including a 2024 Hoodline story about a Hanover Park man convicted of selling illegal machine gun switches. Berlin commended Assistant State’s Attorneys Anthony Raimondi and Dan Orescanin for their contributions to the case, while Elmhurst Chief of Police Michael McLean complimented officers for apprehending the felony defendant and Berlin for his office’s assistance and legal counsel.
According to a statement from the state attorney’s office, McLean believes that police officers require resources to adequately respond to offenders who regularly target the neighborhood. DuPage County prosecutors, under Berlin, have a history of charging suspects who enter retail stores intending to steal with Illinois burglary statutes, elevating penalties above simple retail theft — a pattern Hoodline has documented in previous cases of repeat retail theft offenders losing pre-trial release.
The case falls within a larger regional and national trend. In nearby Cook County, where Benavidez lives, the State’s Attorney’s Office implemented a policy in January 2025 forbidding prosecutors from dropping charges or granting plea bargains in instances involving machine gun conversion switches, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. A January 2024 report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives revealed that agents seized more than 31,000 machine gun conversion devices across the country over a five-year period.
According to an Illinois sentencing review from June 2024, average prison sentences for Class X felony firearm possession convictions increased by 11% statewide between 2019 and 2023. It is unknown who the second male subject who escaped the August 9 Kohl’s incident was, or whether federal officials will pursue additional charges for the unregistered conversion device, as those issues remain open in the case.
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