Parolee arrested after Old Town traffic stop now faces federal gun charges too

Video from nearby surveillance cameras showed someone matching Gaston Tucker’s description running through the lot and tossing something under a dumpster, federal prosecutors said.

SHARE Parolee arrested after Old Town traffic stop now faces federal gun charges too
Still from a surveillance video allegedly showing Gaston Tucker running through a parking lot after fleeing a traffic stop Feb. 17, 2019, in Old Town.

Still from a surveillance video allegedly showing Gaston Tucker running through a parking lot after fleeing a traffic stop Feb. 17, 2019, in Old Town.

U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois

A parolee charged with gun possession after allegedly running away from a traffic stop in the Old Town neighborhood has been indicted on a federal weapons charge.

Gaston Tucker, 32, is charged with one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a felon, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez ordered him held in federal custody without bail on July 9.

Tucker was sitting in the back seat of a red Nissan sedan parked in front of a fire hydrant shortly after 7 p.m. on Feb. 17 in the 1300 block of North Sedgwick Street, according to Chicago police and a federal criminal complaint filed July 1. A Chicago police officer approached the car and asked the occupants for identification.

The driver handed over a suspended license while Tucker gave the officer his Illinois Department of Corrections ID card, prosecutors said. When the officer went back to her car to look up the IDs, Tucker got out of the Nissan and ran south on Sedgwick.

As officers searched the area for Tucker, two security guards from a nearby apartment complex told police they saw someone run through the parking lot and drop an object under a dumpster, according to the complaint. Video from nearby surveillance cameras also showed someone matching Tucker’s description running through the lot and tossing something under the dumpster.

Still from a surveillance video allegedly showing Gaston Tucker running through a parking lot after fleeing a traffic stop Feb. 17, 2019, in Old Town.

Still from a surveillance video allegedly showing Gaston Tucker running through a parking lot after fleeing a traffic stop Feb. 17, 2019, in Old Town.

U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois

Investigators found a loaded Smith & Wesson .40-caliber handgun under the dumpster, prosecutors said.

Police eventually found Tucker at his home in the Hermosa neighborhood on the Northwest Side, prosecutors said. The officer who conducted the traffic stop positively identified him and he was taken into custody.

Tucker was previously charged with multiple felony counts of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, according to police and Cook County court records.

Gaston Tucker

Gaston Tucker

Chicago police

At the time of his arrest, he was on parole for a 2010 conviction for attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm for which he’d been sentenced to 13 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.

Tucker was released on parole on Dec. 10, 2018, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records. He also has prior convictions for drug possession dating back to 2004.

The federal charge was brought against Tucker as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Neighborhoods” violence reduction strategy, the U.S. attorney’s office said. The gun charge carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Tucker’s next court appearance on the state gun possession charges was scheduled for July 24, according to court records.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

The Latest
Over the course of just six fast-paced episodes, Esposito creates a memorable character in this crime drama based on the BBC One series “The Driver.”
Ald. Jeanette Taylor, chair of the City Council’s Education Committee chair, said she’s disappointed that Johnson and his allies in the Chicago Teachers Union backed away from the fully-elected, 21-member board he once supported. “This is not going to be as easy a transition as people think,” she said. “We’re used to a top-down system.”
Alex Caruso has been looking for a defensive showing like the one he and his teammates put on display in the win over the Pacers, but Caruso also knows it needs staying power. Could Javonte Green help that process moving forward?
Christian I. Soto, 22, was charged with murder, attempted murder and home invasion, officials announced Thursday. Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd said earlier investigators haven’t determined a motive for the attacks.
Can a message generated by an algorithm ever match hearing from a human?