Chicago’s criminal justice is every bit as dysfunctional as many of its neighborhoods. Violent criminals, including those found illegally possessing and carrying guns, are released with little more than a slap on the wrist. And then they re-offend. Which makes Chicago’s notorious crime problem a mystery no one can seem to solve.
Take Jaden Goldsberry, for instance. He was freed on his own recognizance after catching an illegal gun possession charge in March. He was (allegedly) found carrying a pistol with neither a Firearms Owners ID card, nor a concealed carry license.
Now, the security folks at O’Hare International’s TSA office found 18-year-old Jaden with another .40 caliber pistol in his carry-on. When they plucked it out of Jaden’s bag, Jaden reportedly said, “I’ve never seen that.”
Suffice it to say he missed his flight to Portland.
I keep hoping the gun fairy will leave a gun in my man-bag. Heck, I’d even accept a .40. It has not happened though.
From CWB Chicago:
Police said a TSA X-ray operator saw a handgun in a bag while working at the Terminal 3 checkpoint around 11:45 a.m. Wednesday. Chicago police reviewed the screening images and then recovered a loaded 40-caliber handgun from 18-year-old Jaden Goldsberry’s carry-on, prosecutors said.
Upon seeing the gun, Goldsberry allegedly told an officer, “I’ve never seen that.”
Goldsberry, of the Grand Crossing neighborhood, has been charged with felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and felony boarding of an aircraft with a gun. Police said he was booked on an American Airlines flight to Portland.
In Goldsberry’s case, $1000 would have gotten him out of the klink on these new, more serious charges…except for that earlier issue. The TSA incident violated his earlier recognizance bond.
Judge John Lyke set bail at $10,000 and ordered Goldsberry to go on electronic monitoring if he can post a 10% bond of $1,000. Lyke also ordered Goldsberry held without bail on a violation of bail bond charge in connection with a pending firearms case.
How often does something like this happen in the Windy City? Often.
Two-thirds of the released adults [from gun charges] have been re-arrested and charged with other crimes while on bail, the department said.
And therein lies Chicago’s problem. Without meaningful consequences for illegal behavior, bad guys and gals feel emboldened. Meanwhile, the city’s innocent, productive, law-abiding people pay the price for the coddling of criminals.