Man charged in Whiteside County with drug, weapons offenses, including having sawed-off shotgun

MORRISON – The Whiteside County State’s Attorney’s Office filed charges Tuesday accusing a 37-year-old man of multiple weapons offenses, including possessing a sawed-off shotgun.

Ronald W. McNinch, who is listed as homeless in Tuesday’s court documents but who previously lived in Rock Falls and Sterling, is charged with one count of armed violence, one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine, two counts of unlawful possession of weapons as a felon and one count of unlawful use of weapons, according to trial information filed at the Whiteside County Courthouse.

Court documents do not indicate specific details about the charges, but a detention hearing order filed Tuesday indicates he attempted to evade police and was found in possession of a shotgun, ammunition, a knife and methamphetamine.

The armed violence charge accuses McNinch of being armed with a sawed-off shotgun Monday while in possession of less than 5 grams of meth. The Class X felony carries a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted.

The two possession of weapons as a felon charges note that McNinch was previously convicted of burglary on June 10, 2005, in Whiteside County and is not to have firearms. One of the charges lists a sawed-off shotgun as the weapon; the other lists 12 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun shells in his possession.

The unlawful use of weapons charge alleges McNinch unlawfully possessed a shotgun with a barrel less than 18 inches long.

A preliminary hearing on the charges is set for 1 p.m. Oct. 14. He will remain jailed in Whiteside County after a judge denied his pretrial release Tuesday.

According to court documents, McNinch pleaded guilty in 2005 to burglary and was sentenced to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. A charge of criminal trespassing to property was dismissed.

He also was arrested on a warrant Tuesday for a July 2023 theft case. Charges in that case were filed in October 2023. He was granted pretrial release but was wanted on a warrant, issued in September, for failure to appear. His jury trial is set for Nov. 5 in that case.