Rock Falls felon facing 11 felony counts for drugs, weapons after armed standoff

DIXON – A six-hour armed standoff ended peacefully Sunday afternoon after officers tossed tear gas into the hotel room where the suspect was holed up, and he surrendered, Lee County Sheriff Clay Whelan said.

Steven M. Armoska, 29, of Rock Falls, pulled a gun on another man at the Magnuson Hotel in rural Dixon about 9:30 a.m., prompting an evacuation of hotel, Whelan said Sunday.

No shots were fired and no one was injured. Armoska is being held in Lee County jail, and at a court hearing Monday was ordered to remain jailed while his case proceeds.

The Lee County Joint Operations Group – the county’s SWAT team – responded once the sheriff’s department assessed the situation, and took into account Armoska’s criminal history, he said.

The JOG is made up of officers from the sheriff’s and Dixon police departments, and from Illinois State Police, as well as medics from the Dixon City Fire Department.

Both Armoska and the man he threatened, who called 911, were staying at the Magnuson, 443 state Route 2, which is next door to the Brandywine Banquets & Restaurant facility.

A search of Armoska’s room turned up three pistols, a sawed-off shotgun, marijuana and other drugs, Whelan said.

CS powder, which makes a gas that causes those exposed to cough and gag, was used only after attempts to communicate with Armoska failed, he said.

Armoska was charged Monday in Lee County Court with 11 felony counts: four counts of being an armed habitual offender, which is punishable by six to 30 years in prison, 85% of which must be served before he would be eligible for parole; armed violence, which has a mandatory minimum of 15 years, up to 30, and again, 85% must be served; four counts of being a felon in possession of a weapon, which carries three to 14 years; possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine, which carries two to five years; and possession of more than 100 but less than 500 grams of marijuana, which carries one to three years.

If convicted of armed violence and possession of meth, those sentences must run consecutively, per state statute.

A public defender was appointed at his hearing Monday.

A woman who was in the room with him also is facing drugs and weapons charges; those are being determined, the sheriff said. He declined to release her name until she is charged; she had not been charged as of Monday.

Armoska, a 2013 Rock Falls High School graduate and a former school quarterback, is a convicted felon with a nearly decade-long history of drug- and gun-related charges dating to 2015.

He also has several misdemeanor and traffic cases pending.

He was charged Sept. 18 in Whiteside County with battery, and freed the next day when the state failed to meet its burden of proof to have him detained.

It was the day after the Pretrial Fairness Act, which eliminated cash bail in Illinois, took effect.

At his initial court appearance on Sept. 18, Armoska also was found in contempt for leaving the courtroom “cursing and mouthing off,” and for refusing to return to the courtroom for the contempt proceeding, which was moved to Sept. 19, online court records show.

Armoska apologized for his inappropriate behavior at his detention hearing the next day, and the contempt charge was vacated.

He has a pretrial hearing Jan. 4.

He also has three open Lee County traffic cases, two for driving on a suspended license, and one for speeding.

In the most recent of the three, he was charged Feb. 16, 2022, with driving on a suspended license and was freed after posting $500 of his $5,000 bond.

His most recent conviction happened on April 12, when he pleaded guilty in Whiteside County to being a felon in possession of a firearm, and to possession of a controlled substance in another case.

He was sentenced to two years with the Department of Corrections on each charge, sentences to be served concurrently, and was given credit for 282 days served, which is why he was not in prison on Sunday.

One count of reckless discharge of a firearm and one of misdemeanor aggravated assault with a weapon were dismissed per a plea agreement.

On June 6, 2017, Armoska was sentenced, also in Whiteside County, to seven years in prison for robbery; one count of armed robbery was dismissed.

The robbery charges were filed Dec. 10, 2015; the drug possession charge was filed Dec. 17, 2020; and the gun charges on July 6, 2022.

Armoska was charged in Lee County Court on Feb. 20, 2015, and pleaded guilty March 1, 2018, to reckless discharge of a firearm. He was sentenced to one year, six months in prison.

One count of possession of a firearm without a FOID card was dismissed per a plea agreement.