Chicago man gets over 4 years for selling guns from Indiana

A Chicago man was sentenced to four and a half years in federal prison for illegally buying handguns in Indiana and selling them in the city.

Ricky Hatch, 25, bought the guns from an unlicensed individual in a Bloomington on three separate occasions in 2015, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Norther District of Illinois.

Hatch, who is also known as “Rick Hatchet” and “Ricky Hatchet,” recruited someone from Indianapolis to serve as the buyer in the initial sale, prosecutors said. The seller reviewed the person’s driver’s license and listed some of her information on a purported bill of sale before selling the guns to Hatch, who paid for them in cash.

Hatch used aliases to conceal his identity in the other two transactions, prosecutors said.

After buying the guns, Hatch brought them to Chicago, prosecutors said. Chicago Police ultimately recovered five of the guns from other people.

Last year, Hatch pleaded guilty to unlawful transportation of firearms, prosecutors said. He was sentence to the 55-month prison sentence on Jan. 18.

“The impact of firearms brought from Indiana and sold to individuals in Illinois is well documented,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian S. Wallach argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Defendant’s actions, and those like him who bring gun after gun into this city, are fueling the violence that we read about on a daily basis.”