A 29-year-old Aurora man is facing a stack of felony charges after police say a traffic stop and house search turned up a stolen handgun, rifle, and a pharmacy's worth of suspected narcotics on the city’s near east side.
Investigators with the Aurora Police Department’s Special Operations Group arrested Hector C. Barillas on Tuesday after serving a search warrant at a home in the 300 block of Evans Avenue. Officers say Barillas, who they described as a convicted felon, was taken into custody without incident and is now staring down eight felony counts.
Inside the house and during the stop, police say they recovered a stolen Glock 19 loaded with a 30-round extended magazine, an Archangel .22-caliber rifle, suspected cocaine, marijuana, Xanax and Adderall, along with items they believe were used for drug distribution.
Traffic Stop Led To Warrant And House Search
According to police, officers first spotted Barillas leaving the Evans Avenue residence and pulled him over nearby. During that traffic stop, they reported finding the loaded stolen Glock and suspected drugs on him.
That discovery was enough for investigators to execute the search warrant at the home, where they say they found the rifle, multiple digital scales and other paraphernalia commonly tied to drug-dealing operations. The case was first reported by FOX 32 Chicago.
Eight Felonies, Including Armed Violence
Barillas has been charged with eight felonies, Aurora police said, including armed violence involving a Category I weapon, which is charged as a Class X felony in Illinois. He also faces a count of manufacture or delivery of less than 15 grams of cocaine, a Class 1 felony, along with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of felon in possession of a weapon, and three counts of possession of a controlled substance.
"This case highlights the ongoing efforts of our Special Operations Group and partner units to disrupt illegal narcotics activity and remove dangerous weapons from our community," Aurora Police Chief Matt Thomas said in a written statement, according to FOX 32 Chicago.
Part Of Repeated Narcotics-And-Weapons Sweeps
The arrest fits a broader pattern for Aurora’s Special Operations Group, which has been running a series of high-risk narcotics investigations that repeatedly turn up guns and drugs, according to department news releases.
In September 2025, Aurora police said they executed two search warrants that led to the seizure of handguns, digital scales and cocaine. A separate April investigation uncovered roughly 2 kilograms of cannabis and a firearm, as reported by the Daily Herald.
What The Charges Could Mean
Under Illinois law, armed violence tied to a Category I weapon is treated as a Class X felony, the most serious class short of first-degree murder. Other weapons and drug counts can fall under Class 1, 2 or 4 categories, depending on the specific allegation. Those labels are more than legal jargon — they help determine potential sentencing ranges and how judges handle pretrial detention.
The exact outcome in Barillas’s case will hinge on how Kane County prosecutors choose to charge and argue the file, and how a judge interprets and applies state law, according to the Illinois General Assembly and legal analyses published by Justia.
Barillas is currently being held at the Kane County Adult Justice Center as the case moves through the courts. Aurora police say the investigation is still active and are asking anyone with information to contact the department’s investigations unit.
