A west suburban man was sentenced to 16 years in prison Wednesday for selling at least 80 guns to people he knew were Chicago gang members, officials said.
Walter Freeman, 36, of Lisle, was sentenced after he was found guilty of selling revolvers and semi-automatic weapons to gang members, according to a statement from U.S. Department of Justice.
According to the plea agreement, Freeman traded crack cocaine to a co-defendant, Timothy Vana, 54, of Forest Park, for the guns. He also admitted to selling about 7 grams of crack cocaine per week from 2008-2013, prosecutors said.
Many of the guns he sold were used in shootings and other crimes in and around Chicago, the statement said.
The “defendant’s possession and sale of at least 80 weapons directly contributed to the violence that our city faces,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Levin said in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “He has victimized the entire Chicago community.”
Vana pleaded guilty last month to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of possessing a stolen firearm. His sentencing hearing will be set at a later date, the statement said.
