A traffic stop, cannabis and stolen gun: Documents reveal more on Peoria prosecutor arrest
A Peoria County prosecutor was granted pre-trial release Wednesday after she and another man were found with a stolen firearm in a vehicle late Monday night.
Kali Pray, 28, of Groveland, was released Wednesday after the Woodford County State's Attorney's Office declined to file a petition to detain her before trial. Instead, the court approved an order for pre-trial release in which Pray must appear in court to answer the charges, submit to orders and processes of Woodford County Circuit Court, not violate laws and file written notice with the circuit clerk within 24 hours of any change of address.
In addition, Pray must report to pre-trial services and comply with all reporting requirements; not leave the state without court permission; refrain from possessing any firearms or other dangerous weapons; and have no contact with the other person in the car – 23-year-old Drake Tharp of Creve Coeur.
More: Peoria teenager pleads not guilty to shooting and killing his father
Pray was arrested late Monday night after Woodford County sheriff's deputies stopped a vehicle she and Tharp were riding in along U.S. Route 24 at County Road 2500E west of El Paso. According to court documents obtained by the Journal Star, a deputy on-scene at the time of the arrest noticed Pray and Tharp moving around the vehicle frantically before he made contact with them.
The deputy said that he could smell a strong presence of cannabis in the vehicle, with Pray claiming that she had smoked earlier but had removed all of the cannabis before getting into the car.
However, after further questioning, the deputy said that both Pray and Tharp admitted to having cannabis in the vehicle, having gone to a dispensary in Chicago before returning to the area. While the pair claimed that the products were being transported legally, deputies found cannabis products in the trunk of the vehicle that weren't legal, according to the documents.
In addition to the cannabis, deputies also found a Smith and Wesson .38 Special in the center console of the vehicle. After contacting dispatch, they were informed that the firearm had been stolen from Zion, 60 miles north of Chicago. Initially, Pray told police that she didn't know there was a firearm in the center console and that she didn't know who it belonged to.
However, after she was taken into custody following her arrest, she said that she knew the firearm belonged to Tharp, who purchased it from someone in Peoria. Pray told deputies that she knew the firearm was in the center console because it kept falling out of Tharp's pocket.
Tharp also told police that he didn't know the firearm was in there and who it belonged to. However, after the arrest, he didn't admit that the firearm belonged to him, as Pray claimed.
Both were taken to the Woodford County Jail before Wednesday's hearing. Both were charged with possession of a stolen firearm aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon without a FOID card and unlawful possession of a firearm without a FOID card.
According to Pray's formerly-active LinkedIn page, she had been serving as an assistant state's attorney with Peoria County since August 2023, specializing in juvenile abuse and neglect cases.
However, as of Thursday afternoon, that page had been taken down. State's attorney spokesperson Anna Perales told the Journal Star on Wednesday that she had been on unpaid administrative leave from the department prior to her arrest. She did not provide further comment on Pray's status.
Pray is set for a preliminary hearing on May 1 at 3:30 p.m. If convicted, she faces up to 11 years in prison on the three charges.
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This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Documents reveal more details in Peoria County prosecutor's arrest
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