Woodstock man pleads guilty in county’s ‘largest drug bust,’ gets 180 days in jail, 2 years of probation

A Woodstock man, one of four charged in what police have described as potentially the “largest drug bust” in McHenry County history, has pleaded guilty.

Michael Ferrante, 34, the third man to enter into a plea deal in the case, admitted guilty last week to attempted marijuana trafficking and money laundering. He was sentenced to two years of probation and 180 days in the county jail, according to the judgement order filed in the McHenry County court.

In exchange for his guilty plea, additional, more serious, charges were dismissed, including Class X felonies of marijuana trafficking and the manufacturing and delivering of 2,000 to 5,000 grams of marijuana, as well as possession and criminal conspiracy of marijuana, court records show.

Ferrante is required to obtain a substance abuse evaluation and refrain from the use of controlled substances. He will be subject to random screenings, which must be negative for all illegal and non-prescribed substances, the sentencing order signed by Judge Mark Gerhardt said. Ferrante is required to serve half his jail time, which he will begin Jan. 2, and will get credit for nine days already spent in custody. Ferrante also was ordered to pay $5,740 in fines and fees, court records show.

Ferrante was arrested in connection with a 2022 bust described by McHenry County Sheriff’s Office as possibly the “largest drug bust” in McHenry County. Ferrante and three other men were named multiple times in 30 pages of complaints seeking forfeiture of multiple vehicles, houses and $1 million in cash.

The trafficking offense to which Ferrante pleaded guilty was for arranging for more than 2,500 grams of marijuana to be taken into Illinois “for the purpose of manufacture or delivery,” the indictment said.

The money laundering charge resulted from Ferrante depositing the “proceeds of criminal activity” into “multiple ATMs and bank branches with the intent to promote the carrying on of defendant’s criminal drug and money laundering activity,” according to the indictment.

The three other men who were charged in the larger case are Matthew Lilla, 38, of Chicago; Michael Krawczyk, 34, of Huntley; and Mark R. Bennett Jr., 33, of Lake in the Hills. Lilla’s case still is pending. Krawczyk and Bennett also pleaded guilty and received probation.

Lilla, described as the ring leader of the cross-country operation, is accused of “orchestrating” drug deals, using multiple associates driving large transit vans to various locations throughout the country to illegally bring “large amounts” of marijuana into the state and dealing other narcotics, according to court documents. Lilla is due in court Nov. 6.