Chicago's top prosecutor has just dropped the hammer on a DuPage County man, hitting him with a barrage of charges over the alleged sale of "ghost guns" and a dicey machine gun conversion device. Attorney General Kwame Raoul put the cuffs, legally speaking, on 43-year-old Jeffrey Levander with multiple felonies that could see him behind bars for a long stretch.
According to official statements, the charges include gunrunning, a hefty Class 1 felony that alone could lock Levander up for up to 15 years. He's also staring down the barrel of three counts of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon and a smattering of other charges related to the illicit arms trade. Despite the allegations, Levander has entered a plea of not guilty, surely aiming to quickly shoot down the state's case.
"Ghost guns allow individuals who are not legally eligible to purchase a firearm to evade our laws and slip under the radar of law enforcement," Raoul pointed out in his crackdown on these untraceable weapons.
In the undercover sting that caught Levander, he agreed to illegally sell an untraceable firearm and a machine gun conversion device, a gadget capable to rapidly turn a semi-automatic firearm into a full-auto shooter. Levander reportedly dished out a Glock 43 model clone and a Glock 17 model clone, plus the conversion tech, for a stack of cash to a cop in disguise. To add to the squeeze, law enforcement found even more ammo and gun parts when they raided his crib on November 17.
The big guns at ATF's Chicago Field Division, in tandem with Hanover Park's finest, spearheaded this probe. "Ghost guns and machine conversion devices are dangerous trends that threaten the safety of every community and law enforcement officer," said ATF Special Agent in Charge Christopher Amon. And Hanover Park's Police Chief Andrew Johnson threw in his two cents, appreciating the collab that led to Levander's arrest, and thanked AG Raoul for ensuring the book was thrown his way.
While Levander enjoys the presumption of innocence until the gavel drops, AG Raoul has been on the warpath against ghost guns and has had his share of victories, including torpedoing a dubious arms manufacturer's federal firearm license. Deputy Bureau Chief Andrew Whitfield is the legal eagle handling the state's playbook in court. Levander is expected back in the legal arena on January 30, 2024, to face the music.
