A previously convicted suburban Chicago man will serve two decades in prison after prosecutors allege he shot a handgun converted to a fully automatic weapon during a drug deal in 2023.
Curtis Lyons, 41, of Maywood, was sentenced on Monday after a court found him guilty of five firearms counts in January following a three-day bench trial in December 2025.
According to prosecutors, the case stems from an event on Jan. 25, 2023, when Villa Park police responded to reports of gunshots near Chatham and Plymouth and discovered many round casings on the street.
Lyons had arranged to sell drugs to someone he knew, and he was carrying a handgun modified with a “switch,” which allowed it to fire fully automatic.
Police tracked Lyons to a residence on Cornell Avenue, where they executed a search warrant. Inside, they found a 9 mm Glock 19 with an automatic switch and a laser light, another handgun, a 50-round drum magazine, and around $7,000 in cash.
Lyons had previous convictions for armed robbery and aggravated violence with a firearm, both Class X felonies.
“Without giving a second thought to his status as a convicted felon, which prohibits him from legally possessing a firearm, Mr. Lyons thumbed his nose at the law and illegally armed himself with a machine gun before heading out on January 25, 2023,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin said in a statement.
“This type of disregard for our criminal justice system must be met with serious consequences. I commend the Villa Park Police Department whose outstanding work led to the removal of an extremely dangerous illegal weapon from our streets and a guilty verdict for a convicted felon whose contempt for the rule of law will now be met with a twenty-year prison sentence. I thank Assistant State’s Attorneys Sara Henley, Sean Kinsella and Michael Paup for their work in holding Mr. Lyons responsible for his incredibly dangerous actions.”
Lyons has been incarcerated in the DuPage County Jail since his arrest, and he must complete 85% of his 20-year sentence before becoming eligible for release.