COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — An Evanston man nabbed at a South Side "L" stop had been trying to sell stun guns on a Red Line train, authorities said.
Jeffrey Pittman, 48, was charged Thursday with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, solicitation on the CTA and using the emergency doors to travel from car to car.
He got busted when police investigating reports of a robbery saw him passing from car to car via the emergency doors — a method used by "robbery offenders searching for victims to rob," according to court records.
He was arrested at the Sox-35th Street station shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Police said they found two stun guns and multiple sets of headphones on Pittman and that he was trying to sell them to riders. A convicted felon, Pittman could have been charged with the same offense for possession of a weapon even if he were not trying to sell the stun guns.
A CTA spokesman said that the agency has no "explicit ban" on stun guns. However, as is the case with firearms, Illinois' conceal-and-carry ban currently prohibits people from toting stun guns around with them in public places.
At a bond hearing Thursday, Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr., ordered Pittman held on $50,000 bail.
