A 27-year-old Chicago Heights man is facing 35 criminal charges after prosecutors say an undercover operation caught him selling more than $18,000 worth of cocaine and firearms in the Joliet and Shorewood area. Isaiah James was arrested by Joliet police and booked into the Will County Jail, with a statewide grand jury later returning an indictment against him.
According to Shaw Local, prosecutors allege James sold cocaine and guns in the Joliet and Shorewood area, and the Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office filed the indictment on October 26. The grand jury’s indictment contains the full 35 charges against him, which according to court documents include gunrunning, delivery of a controlled substance, armed violence, unlawful sale or delivery of firearms, and unlawful possession of weapons in Will County.
Separately, Patch reported that James was booked into the Will County Jail on a Wednesday night on charges including 11 counts of dealing illegal drugs, three counts of gunrunning, 13 counts of the sale of illegal guns by a convicted felon, five counts of armed violence, two counts of being a felon in possession of a dangerous weapon, and one count of possessing or receiving a gun without a serial number. As of the following day, Patch reported, details of James’ criminal complaint had not been made public on the Will County Courthouse website.
How the Undercover Buys Allegedly Unfolded
The investigation leading to James’ arrest resulted from an undercover task force operation supervised by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, per the court petition described by the Herald-News report. The undercover sales are alleged to have occurred between October 2, 2025, and September 10, 2026, according to the petition from Gansmann cited in that reporting.
Over the course of the undercover-sales period, James was given $18,125 in exchange for cocaine and 10 firearms in the Joliet and Shorewood area, per the court petition. Other alleged exchanges included $6,100 for cocaine and one firearm in Frankfort, $400 for cocaine in Bolingbrook, and $3,600 that James allegedly provided cocaine and one firearm for in Cook County.
Firearms Named in the Case
The firearms allegedly sold by James included an AK-104 7.62-caliber rifle, a .40-caliber Glock pistol fitted with a conversion switch allowing automatic fire, and a privately made 9 mm pistol with no serial number, according to the court petition. The Herald-News article, authored by Felix Sarver and published in the paper’s Will County section, describes weapons investigators say changed hands during the operation.
James is scheduled for an arraignment and detention hearing Friday at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet. No outcome, plea, or update to the charges has been reported.
