California man charged with hauling 2 tons of marijuana released on GPS monitoring

La Salle County prosecutors wanted Cesar D. Jimenez-Preciado detained for allegedly hauling 2 tons of purported marijuana. Then, prosecutors disclosed Thursday that he was nabbed last month in Effingham County with another 4 tons.

A La Salle County judge has chosen against detention.

Jimenez-Preciado, 53, of West Covina, California, was released Thursday from the La Salle County Jail after Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. approved GPS monitoring. Ryan opted for home confinement even though Jimenez-Preciado faces 12 to 60 years in prison if convicted of marijuana trafficking, a charge filed after state police seized 2 tons near Peru.

If it turns out to be marijuana, that is.

Coal City defense attorney Jordan Kielian entered his appearance on behalf of Jimenez-Preciado and argued that the substance he was hauling Sept. 24 in Effingham County and Tuesday in La Salle County was hemp, which is legal in Illinois, and which would have field-tested positive for cannabis.

Even if a crime lab shows that it was cannabis, Kielian argued, Jimenez-Preciado thought he was hauling a legitimate product and was not knowingly committing a crime.

“In his mind, he was not violating the law,” Kielian said.

Prosecutors painted an altogether different picture. Assistant La Salle County State’s Attorney Greg Sticka said Jimenez-Preciado was driving a rented box truck, not driving a marked unit owned and operated by a licensed hemp grower.

Jimenez-Preciado not only failed to produce documentation showing that he was hauling hemp, Sticka said, but also provided “only very minimal information” about his employer in a pretrial risk screening.

Contrary to what Jimenez-Preciado said, the large quantity and street value of the marijuana seized indicates “a vast criminal enterprise” and by nature constitutes a threat to the public, prosecutors said.

And that was before La Salle County prosecutors learned of an 8,000-pound seizure in Effingham County. Jimenez-Preciado was stopped Sept. 24 and released with a notice to appear in court even though he could face a decades-long sentence in that jurisdiction.

But the judge was unpersuaded and let Jimenez-Preciado out of the La Salle County Jail. He is to stay in his California home with an ankle bracelet and may not return to work while the case is pending.

“I don’t want him driving trucks anymore,” Ryan said. “Not right now.”

La Salle County maintains that the 85 trash bags seized Tuesday from the truck headed east on Interstate 80 near Peru were stuffed with cannabis. Prosecutors computed an estimated total weight of 4,250 pounds based on the testing of one of the 50-pound bags.

A La Salle County grand jury convenes Tuesday. Jimenez-Preciado is scheduled to return Oct. 31 for a court appearance with counsel and possible arraignment.

Whether the Effingham County seizure results in felony charges remains to be seen. As of Thursday, there were no felony charges on file at the Effingham County Circuit Clerk’s Office.