Vomiting Wilmette Man Found With Illegal Gun In Skokie: Police

SKOKIE, IL — A Wilmette man faces felony firearm charges after officers said they found him vomiting out of the side of a car last month in Skokie.

Ryan Nacey, 19, of the 2200 block of Sandy Lane, was arrested following a traffic stop in the 3400 block of Dempster Street in the early morning hours of May 17, according to police reports.

Nacey, a former camp counselor at the Chandler-Newberger Community Center in Evanston, was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and defacing identification marks of a firearm.

He was also charged with misdemeanor possession of cannabis in a motor vehicle after he claimed ownership of a bag full of more than a dozen pre-packaged, out-of-state cannabis products and a digital scale, police said.

Prosecutors did not approve any felony charges related to drug dealing.

Police said Nacey was the passenger in a car that caught the attention of a Skokie police officer on patrol shortly before 2 a.m. as it headed south on Lincolnwood Drive with no headlights.

The driver, later identified as a 21-year-old Evanston man without car insurance, pulled the car over before Nacey opened the passenger side door and started vomiting on the ground, the officer reported.

The officer introduced herself to the driver and asked if Nacey needed medical assistance, according to the report.

"No," Nacey said, "I just had some bad food."

Another officer asked Nacey to take his hands out of his pocket.

"You're not going to search me," Nacey said, according to the report.

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Both officers reported the smell of cannabis was wafting from inside the car — and that the driver gave permission for them to conduct a warrantless search of the vehicle.

When Nacey was asked to step out, he kept both his hands in the pouch of his hoodie, an officer reported.

"At this time, I believed that he was attempting to conceal something," the officer reported. When Nacey refused to take his hands out of his pocket the officer explained he would be searching him for safety purposes. "Upon placing the handcuffs on Nacey I was able to see a black handgun in the pouch of his hooded sweatshirt."

Police later determined that the gun, a 9mm Polymer 80, was loaded and its serial number had been removed, according to the reports.

During a search of the car, officers found a digital scale, some loose marijuana and 21 grams of commercially processed cannabis products, including more than a dozen California-made THC vaporizer cartridges and eight packages of THC-infused candy, according to evidence photos.

"It all belongs to me," Nacey said, according to the officers.

The car's driver later reportedly told officers he was not aware of the cannabis or that his friend, Nacey, had a gun.

The person who answered Nacey's listed phone number hung up when asked about him Friday.