Earlville man pleads guilty to selling cocaine while wearing an ankle bracelet, gun charge

An Earlville man pleaded guilty to gun and drug charges Thursday and faces up to 15 years in prison when he’s sentenced July 25.

Travis A. Billups, 36, of Earlville appeared Thursday in La Salle County Circuit Court, where he and his lawyer intended to dispute evidence linking him to drug deliveries and a firearm. Instead, Billups left the courtroom with a deal.

Billups entered a blind plea to one count of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance, a Class 1 felony carrying a sentence of four to 15 years in prison, as well as one count of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, which carries three to 14 years.

Billups is ineligible for probation, but the twin guilty pleas enabled him to avert a sentence up to 30 years on a now-dismissed count of being an armed habitual criminal.

He will have an opportunity to address his sentencing judge July 25.

The delivery count stems from a Sept. 13 controlled buy, during which Billups sold 3.1 grams of cocaine to a confidential informant in Peru. Billups had been granted pretrial release and was wearing an ankle monitor at the time of the sting operation.

The weapon count stems from a May 15 traffic stop in La Salle (Billups was a passenger) during which police seized a 9 mm pistol. Analysis later showed Billups’ fingerprint on the trigger.