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DUPAGE COUNTY, Ill. - A previously convicted suburban Chicago man will spend two decades in prison after prosecutors say he fired a handgun converted to a fully automatic weapon during a drug deal in 2023.
Curtis Lyons, 41, of Maywood, was sentenced Monday after a judge found him guilty in January of five weapons charges following a three-day bench trial in December 2025.
The backstory:
According to prosecutors, the case stems from a Jan. 25, 2023, incident when Villa Park police responded to reports of gunfire near Chatham and Plymouth, where officers found multiple shell casings in the street.
Investigators later determined Lyons had arranged to sell drugs to someone he knew and was carrying a handgun modified with a "switch," allowing it to fire as a fully automatic weapon.
Curtis Lyons
Police tracked Lyons to a home on Cornell Avenue, where they executed a search warrant. Inside, they recovered a 9 mm Glock 19 equipped with the automatic switch and a laser light, another handgun, a 50-round drum magazine and about $7,000 in cash.
What they're saying:
Lyons has prior convictions for armed robbery and aggravated battery with a firearm, both Class X felonies.
"Without giving a second thought to his status as a convicted felon, which prohibits him from legally possessing a firearm, Mr. Lyons thumbed his nose at the law and illegally armed himself with a machine gun before heading out on January 25, 2023," DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin said in a statement.
"This type of disregard for our criminal justice system must be met with serious consequences. I commend the Villa Park Police Department whose outstanding work led to the removal of an extremely dangerous illegal weapon from our streets and a guilty verdict for a convicted felon whose contempt for the rule of law will now be met with a twenty-year prison sentence. I thank Assistant State’s Attorneys Sara Henley, Sean Kinsella and Michael Paup for their work in holding Mr. Lyons responsible for his incredibly dangerous actions."
What's next:
Lyons has been held in the DuPage County Jail since his arrest and must serve 85% of his 20-year sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
The Source: The information in this story came from the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office.