An Indiana man has been handed a ten-year federal prison sentence for trafficking firearms from Indianapolis to the Chicago area, including 15 guns that ranged from semiautomatic rifles to untraceable "ghost guns". Devante T. Brown, age 29, and co-defendant Corey Sartin, 21, both from Indianapolis, conducted sales of these firearms to undercover law enforcement officers on several occasions in 2022.
According to details released by the Department of Justice, Sartin was seen by undercover officers selling a handgun on April 9, while trafficked firearms included four handguns and AR-style rifles on May 31; and on June 24, additional handguns, rifles, and two "ghost guns" that lack serial numbers were also sold. Displayed in text messages, Brown's confidence in the illegal deals was evident, stating "We gone do good business together."
Brown entered a guilty plea on federal firearm charges earlier this year, and Judge Franklin U. Valderrama sentenced him this Tuesday. In contrast, Sartin, who also pleaded guilty to a similar charge, received a much shorter sentence of two and a half years in prison last year. Morris Pasqual, the acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and high-ranking officials from various law enforcement agencies, including Christopher Amon of the ATF and Superintendent Larry Snelling of the Chicago Police Department, were credited for their roles in the investigation and successful apprehension of the traffickers.
The conviction stems from efforts of the Chicago Firearms Trafficking Strike Force, a Department of Justice-led initiative that aims to disrupt the flow of illegal firearms and reduce gun violence. Part of this broader scheme is Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a violent crime reduction strategy that prosecutes those illegally possessing firearms. Analyses from the strike force reveal patterns and leads that link crimes to suspects and illegal firearm trafficking paths. This district's implementation of PSN has made coordinated attempts to tackle violent crime, emphasizing the deterrence of firearm offenses.
