Three men were charged last week with crashing a stolen Jeep through the front of a Livingston County gun store and making off with 20 firearms.
On June 21, 2016, the men stole a black Jeep Wrangler in southwest suburban Spring Valley and used it the following day to smash through the front of South Post Guns in Streator, which is located about 100 miles southwest of Chicago, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
Once inside the store, the men smashed glass display cases and took 18 handguns, a rifle and a shotgun, prosecutors said.
Rashad Anchando, 22, of Streator. | Illinois Department of Corrections
Following the burglary, the men met at a Streator home, where they filmed themselves holding the stolen firearms and posted the videos online, prosecutors said. The men then cut the price tags off the stolen guns and brought them to Chicago, where they conspired to either “sell them, use them, or threaten to use them against others.”
Romeo Blackman, 21, of Chicago; Rashad Anchando, 22, of Streator; and Keith Gullens, 27, of Streator, were charged with conspiring to steal the firearms, possession of stolen firearms and burglary of a federally licensed firearms business, prosecutors said. In addition, Blackman and Gullens face a separate count of illegal possession of firearms by a convicted felon.
Anchando and Gullens are currently in prison on unrelated charges, while Blackman is being held by the LaSalle County Jail. Anchando and Gullens are expected in court June 13. Blackman is expected in court June 15.
Romeo Blackman | LaSalle County sheriff’s office
