A Monmouth man who has been waiting seven years for a pardon from Illinois' governors has finally received one.

Robert Pinney was 1 of 42 people pardoned Friday by Gov. Pat Quinn.

Pinney was pardoned for acts taken at age 19 while attending Western Illinois University.

Pinney of Monmouth was pulled over for not wearing a seat belt. A search of his auto turned up an unloaded handgun. Pinney was later convicted of theft of the gun. The 37-year-old Pinney says he hopes now to get a master's degree in psychology.

Pinney applied for a pardon from then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose inaction on such requests created a backlog of more than 2,500 cases.

Quinn has acted on 2,068 clemency petitions since taking office in January 2009, granting 743 pardons.