Bellwood man sentenced to more than 13 years in prison on gun, drug charges
CHICAGO (CBS) – A Bellwood man was sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison for the illegal possession of multiple firearms and dealing heroin and crack cocaine.
Brian Stafford, 42, illegally had two loaded handguns and drugs in his vehicle and residence in west suburban Bellwood on Nov. 2, 2016, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office's Northern District of Illinois.
A day earlier, Stafford sold 101 grams of heroin to an individual who was cooperating with police, prosecutors said.
In November, a federal jury convicted Stafford of one count of possessing heroin and crack cocaine with the intent to distribute, one count of illegal possession of firearms by a previously convicted felon, and one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of drug-trafficking activities.
A separate federal jury in 2019 convicted Stafford of illegally possessing three assault rifles. All of the handguns and rifles that Stafford illegally possessed were linked to thefts from a cargo train that passed through Chicago in September of 2016, prosecutors said.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman sentenced Stafford to 13 years and four months in prison.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois said substantial assistance in the investigation was provided by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Cook County Sheriff's Office, Evergreen Park police, and Bolingbrook police.