ABERDEEN, Miss. ( WJTV ) – A 20-year-old Illinois man was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday for firearms trafficking and conspiracy to traffic firearms.
Prosecutors said the investigation began after agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) noticed a high volume of firearms recovered in crimes in Chicago, Illinois, had been purchased in Mississippi. They said some of the firearms involved in new crimes had been purchased as recent as one day prior to use in the new offense.
Holmes County man sentenced for illegal possession of firearm
Several of the firearms were recovered in violent crimes and had machinegun devices attached that converted the firearms to be able to fire automatically. In total, investigators identified more than 60 firearms that were purchased illegally and transported to Chicago for resale by Derrick Stewart, Jr., and others.
On October 1, 2024, Stewart was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison for the offenses to be followed by three years of supervised release. The judge imposed a 60-month sentence for the conspiracy violation to run consecutive to the 60-month sentence for firearms trafficking.