Indiana Man Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison for Trafficking Guns From Indianapolis to Chicago

CHICAGO — An Indiana man has been sentenced to ten years in federal prison for trafficking 15 guns, including semiautomatic rifles and “ghost guns,” from Indianapolis to the Chicago area.

DEVANTE T. BROWN and a co-defendant, COREY SARTIN, transported 15 firearms from Indianapolis to the Chicago area in the spring and summer of 2022.  Brown and Sartin sold the guns to undercover law enforcement officers in three separate transactions:

• April 9, 2022: Sartin sold a handgun to the undercover officers in Lynwood, Ill.
• May 31, 2022: Brown and Sartin sold four handguns and AR-style rifles with extended magazines to the undercover officers in the Pullman neighborhood of Chicago.
• June 24, 2022: Brown and Sartin sold four semiautomatic handguns, four semiautomatic rifles, and two privately made “ghost guns” to the undercover officers in Calumet City, Ill.  A firearm is considered a “ghost gun” when it contains no identifiable serial number and was manufactured from parts collected from various sources.

In a text message to the undercover officers prior to one of the deals, Brown stated, “I come across guns all day long.  We gone do good business together.”

Brown, 29, of Indianapolis, Ind., pleaded guilty earlier this year to a federal firearm charge.  U.S. District Judge Franklin U. Valderrama on Tuesday sentenced Brown to ten years in prison.  Sartin, 21, of Indianapolis, Ind., also pleaded guilty to a firearm charge and was sentenced last year to two and a half years in prison.

The sentences were announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Christopher Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Larry Snelling, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.  Valuable assistance was provided by the Dolton, Ill., Police Department.  The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jasmina Vajzovic.

Disrupting illegal firearms trafficking is a centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s cross-jurisdictional strike force aimed at reducing gun violence.  As part of the Chicago Firearms Trafficking Strike Force, the U.S. Attorney’s Office collaborates with ATF, CPD, and other federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in the Northern District of Illinois and across the country to help stem the supply of illegally trafficked firearms and identify patterns, leads, and potential suspects in violent gun crimes.

Holding illegal firearm possessors accountable through federal prosecution is also a focus of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) – the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction strategy.  In the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and law enforcement partners have deployed the PSN program to attack a broad range of violent crime issues facing the district, particularly firearm offenses.