McHenry man pleads guilty to meth possession, gets 9 years in prison

A McHenry man pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing 100 to 400 grams of methamphetamine and was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Police initially went to the home of Luis E. Rangel, 28, the morning of April 7, 2022, as part of a DuPage County murder investigation. Rangel was not charged in that alleged murder, but during the search of the home authorities found 447 grams of methamphetamine, 4,537 grams of marijuana, a sawed-off shotgun and a rifle that didn’t have a serial number, prosecutors said in court documents filed in the McHenry County court.

In exchange for Rangel’s guilty plea, additional charges were dismissed, including delivery of 400 to 900 grams of methamphetamine, possession with intent to deliver 2,000 to 5,000 grams of marijuana and two counts of possession of a firearm without a firearm owner’s identification card, according to the court records.

Rangel had been out of jail pretrial on cash bond and was taken into custody after entering the plea.

He is required to serve half of his prison sentence followed by 18 months years of mandatory supervised release. He will receive credit for 14 days served in the county jail after his arrest, according to the sentencing order.

Francisco A. Maldanado, 31, of Round Lake Beach, was subsequently charged with first-degree murder in the case. He is accused of shooting Francisco J. Zavala, 26, of also Round Lake Beach, 11 times on a January night at a forest preserve in DuPage County, authorities said.

Maldanado’s case is pending. His next court date is Aug. 1, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert B. Berlin said.