Galesburg Police last week received a tip that a 23-year-old Monmouth man was attempting to illegally purchase a firearm from a Galesburg man. The Monmouth man is the same suspect wanted for stealing a moped from a Knox College campus parking lot earlier this month. The tip came in after the male subject contacted the Galesburg man through a mutual friend via Facebook inquiring about buying a gun. Dispatch received word that the male suspect was en route to Casey’s on Main Street. The man fled from police after spotting officers but was apprehended after a brief foot chase. The man immediately admitted to tossing a backpack over a fence that had methamphetamine inside. Inside the backpack was also a fake gun and a stolen check. The man was placed under arrest. Back at the Public Safety Building, the man denied stealing the moped saying someone asked him to move it and someone else would come pick it up from him. The man gave officers the name of a female subject who currently has possession of the moped. The GPD’s investigation into the stolen moped is ongoing. The man was charged with the warrant, Motor Vehicle Theft, Possession of Meth, and Resisting a Peace Officer.
