Gang member who stole guns from Chicago train gets 10 years

[sarisataka]

Gang member who stole guns from Chicago train gets 10 years

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Chicago street gang member to 10 years behind bars for stealing more than 100 newly minted guns from a Norfolk Southern yard, saying such thefts have contributed to "an epidemic of violence" in the city.

Before sentencing, a prosecutor also described what he said was a little known but active criminal "subculture" where thieves, such as Andrew Shelton, regularly target trains in Chicago, the nation's No. 1 rail hub.

Shelton and seven other gang members slipped with relative ease into the South Side yard on April 12, 2015, to steal the guns, which were en route from New Hampshire's Sturm, Ruger & Co. weapons maker to Gunarama Wholesale in Spokane.

Shelton, 43, and the father of ten children, should have known better than anyone how guns shatter lives because he lost his dad to gun violence and has been shot 12 times himself, Judge John Tharp told the hearing in Chicago. Some of Shelton's fellow thieves had also been shot and their relatives killed.

http://m.startribune.com/1st-thief-up-for-sentencing-in-major-chicago-train-guns-case/449175113/

[CurtEastPoint]

1. 43 and in a gang.

[MichMan]

2. 10 kids.................. nm

[Alea]

3. Good on the Federal Judge

Local judge would have given him community service