Judge: Rock Falls felony case alleging drug sales near Merrill School can move toward trial

MORRISON — A Whiteside County judge has ruled that felony drug charges filed against a Rock Falls man will move forward toward trial.

John Trumbla, 56, appeared Monday, June 16, in Whiteside County Circuit Court, where Associate Court Judge Magen Mertes decided evidence presented by the State’s Attorney’s Office supports the five drug-related charges filed against Trumbla in January.

During Monday’s preliminary hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Dana McCormick questioned Kyle Wyckstandt, a Sterling police officer and a member of the Blackhawk Area Task Force, about the circumstances leading up to Trumbla’s May arrest, which happened while he was out on parole for a previous drug conviction.

The January charges include a Class X felony accusing him of delivering cocaine during school hours within 500 feet of Merrill School; one count of delivery of 1 to 15 grams of cocaine, a Class 1 felony; and three counts of delivery of less than 5 grams of methamphetamine. If he is convicted of delivering cocaine near a school, he faces a possible 30-year sentence and a sentence enhancement because he has previous drug-related convictions.

Trumbla has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

According to court testimony Monday, Trumbla sold cocaine and meth unknowingly to a confidential source during prearranged buys at Trumbla’s Rock Falls home on March 25, 2024, and April 24, 2024. His home is located near Merrill School.

The third offense charges him with selling meth to a confidential source April 10, 2024, behind Shell in Rock Falls. Wyckstandt said Trumbla rode a bicycle to the prearranged transaction, where he sold drugs, again unknowingly to a confidential source. Wyckstandt said Trumbla, who was wearing a glove, extended his gloved hand into the confidential source’s vehicle and told the source to remove the glove, take the drug that was inside, put the money into the glove and hand it back to Trumbla.

Trumbla, arrested on a warrant, was taken into custody May 23 and was held in the Whiteside County Jail until May 27, when he was granted pretrial release. According to court records, prosecutors did not file a petition asking for Trumbla to be detained.

His pretrial release conditions include being placed on home detention with a GPS monitor. Mertes on Monday denied Trumbla’s request to be granted release from house arrest for a block of time each week to purchase groceries, clothing and medication.

The charges come just one year before his planned sentence discharge date in a 2015 Whiteside County drug case, in which he pleaded guilty to two charges in 2017, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

In that case, he pleaded guilty to one count each of unlawful possession and possession with intent to deliver between 500 and 2,000 grams of cannabis. Four charges of delivery of cannabis were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

He served five years of the 12-year sentence; he was released from prison and placed on parole in June 2023. His sentence discharge date in the case was set for June 2026, according to the IDOC.

Also according to the IDOC, Trumbla was taken into custody in a 1984 Cook County murder case when he was 15 years old and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Court documents indicate that he had completed his sentence and was discharged in that case, as well as for the following convictions, all of them in Whiteside County:

• A four-year prison sentence for a 2002 conviction of possessing a stolen vehicle.
• A 10-year prison sentence for a 2007 conviction of delivery of 2,000 to 5,000 grams of cannabis. Four weapons charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal.
• A five-year prison sentence for a 2015 conviction of driving with a suspended license in a 2014 case.

His next court date is a pretrial conference on Sept. 24.