URBANA — A Mansfield man who allegedly broke a police officer’s nose as he was being arrested Wednesday for allegedly having an assault rifle in his vehicle is in the Champaign County Jail.
On Friday, the Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office filed seven new felony counts against Carson Kasbergen, 23, formerly of Mahomet.
Prosecutors also sought to revoke the probation he’s now on for possession of cannabis plants in 2019 and have him held without bond.
They also plan to seek forfeiture of two vehicles he allegedly recently drove, and have already filed for forfeiture of a third.
Assistant State’s Attorney Lauren McQueen told Judge Adam Dill the new criminal charges stem from Kasbergen’s arrest Wednesday.
Just before 4 p.m. that day, she said, an employee of a detailing business in west Champaign found a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle wrapped in a blanket under a bench seat in the back of a Jeep Gladiator that is registered to Kasbergen, and contacted police.
McQueen said Kasbergen’s firearm owner’s identification card is revoked because of a previous felony conviction. Also in the Jeep was a fully loaded 30-round magazine for the rifle.
Kasbergen’s driver’s license is suspended and he was wanted on warrants in three cases — a 2019 driving under the influence, a 2019 possession of cannabis plants and a 2020 aggravated fleeing and eluding, driving under the influence and driving under suspension.
McQueen said police were waiting at the business when Kasbergen arrived in a Chevrolet Suburban to pick up his Jeep. Police asked him to identify himself when he came in and he said he worked there, then left the lobby.
Officer James Hobson was outside and called out to him, asking if he was Carson, and he replied “No, sir,” and kept walking to the Suburban. Hobson told Kasbergen to stop, fearing he may have had a weapon in the vehicle.
The man identified as Kasbergen responded by swinging a closed fist at Hobson, breaking his nose. Hobson pinned him in the vehicle until other officers could get him in custody.
A search of the Suburban turned up a brown paper bag in the back seat that contained more than 1,700 grams of cannabis products packaged in 23 sealed bags. Kasbergen’s passport was also in the vehicle.
Based on those facts, Kasbergen was charged Friday with aggravated battery to a peace officer, possession with intent to deliver cannabis, possession of cannabis, unlawful use of weapon by a felon, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and two counts of driving under suspension.
The most serious is the battery to a peace officer, punishable upon conviction by probation to four to 15 years in prison.
Kasbergen was sentenced in late August to a year of conditional discharge for resisting a peace officer for interfering with a traffic stop by a sheriff’s deputy involving his roommate that happened in October 2019.
Another charge of threatening a public official, for alleged remarks he made to the deputy who drove him to jail about harming the deputy’s children, and one for driving under suspension were dismissed in return for his plea.
As part of the same negotiated resolution, Kasbergen was sentenced to two years of first-offender probation after pleading guilty to possession of cannabis sativa plants that were found growing in his Mahomet home in December 2019.
On Friday, Assistant State’s Attorney Chris McCallum filed an amended petition to revoke that probation based on Kasbergen allegedly having the gun and cannabis products and punching Hobson on Wednesday as well as crimes he allegedly committed in September 2020.
On Sept. 14, Kasbergen allegedly committed aggravated fleeing from a Mahomet police officer while driving well over the speed limit in town and on Interstate 74 in his Lamborghini; driving while his license was suspended based on a prior DUI arrest; and disorderly conduct for allegedly phoning in a false police report that his Lamborghini had been stolen.
On Sept. 26, Kasbergen allegedly committed disorderly conduct by exposing his genitals to a neighbor who wanted to talk to him about his dog running at large in the neighborhood.
McCallum was prepared to argue to Dill that Kasbergen should be held without bail because he has failed to obey rules of probation that say he may not use drugs or alcohol or possess a gun.
The motion McCallum filed said that despite having completed a 90-day in-patient rehabilitation program beginning in January 2020, Kasbergen was charged again in September with aggravated DUI, later failed to report to probation for a drug test, and failed to complete intensive outpatient treatment recommended by probation.
Kasbergen told the judge he intended to hire Champaign attorney Steve Sarm, who represents him on other open cases, for his new case.
Sarm was not present Friday and Assistant Public Defender Lindsey Yanchus said she wasn’t prepared to proceed on the motion for Kasbergen to be held without bail and asked for a continuance. Dill set the case for Monday, so Kasbergen will remain jailed until a bond is set.
McCallum, who previously filed a petition to have Kasbergen’s Lamborghini forfeited to the state, said he plans to file similar petitions next week on the 2020 Jeep Gladiator and the 2018 Chevrolet Suburban involved in the Wednesday incident at the car-detailing shop.
He will allege they are subject to forfeiture because Kasbergen continued to drive them when his license was suspended and because he has two pending DUI cases.
