A Thayer man arrested in Southern Illinois for possessing a stolen firearm is due in the Illinois Central District Court for a trial this month.
19 year old Blayton M. Cota of Thayer was arrested in the Metro East area on May 14th by U.S. Marshals for allegedly possessing a stolen firearm. In charging documents, the firearm was described as a sig-Saur model MPX 9mm rifle which had allegedly been shipped and transported out of the state of Georgia. Cota was also cited for possessing an unregistered firearm pursuant to the initial charge. According to the documents, the transfer or alleged shipment was received somewhere in Morgan County on or about December 21, 2019. Cota was arrested by Macoupin County Sheriff’s Deputies in January of last year for illegally possessing 9mm Winchester law enforcement grade ammunition.
Cota’s case was transferred to the Central District Court of Illinois in Springfield last Tuesday. He is currently out on restricted release after posting $5,000 bond. Cota is set for pretrial conference in front of Magistrate Judge Tom Schanzle-Haskins on June 18th. A trial has been set in the case for July 6th.