Tinley Park man gets 11 years for selling guns, heroin to undercover informant

A southwest suburban man was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for selling drugs and guns to a law enforcement informant in 2017.

U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman handed down the 138-month sentence May 23 to Antoine Jackson of Tinley Park, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Jackson, 42, pleaded guilty last year to one count each of dealing firearms without a license, distribution of a controlled substance and using and carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, prosecutors said.

“In a city that has seen shootings and homicides in astronomical numbers, illegal dealing of firearms should not be tolerated,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tobara S. Richardson wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “The collateral effect of drug trafficking is to flood the streets with these substances that breed addiction and violence and that undermine the safety of communities.”

In his plea agreement, he admitted to selling an AK-47 rifle, two handguns, extended magazines for both guns and heroin to someone on three separate occasions in June 2017, prosecutors said. That person turned out to be an informant working for police.

Two of the sales occurred at Jackson’s Tinley Park home, while the third took place at a forest preserve in the suburb, federal officials said. Jackson referred to himself as a “one stop shop” for drugs and guns while setting up the deals.

He received $6,565 in cash for the guns and drugs, and another $4,500 for selling the informant more heroin in December 2017 and March 2018, prosecutors said.

Jackson remains held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records.

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