Chicago Man Sentenced for 'Straw Purchasing' Guns in Indiana
A Chicago man has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for straw purchasing guns in Indiana.
U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen sentenced 23-year-old Paul Fowlkes to 30 months in prison for providing false information to a federal firearms licensee during gun purchases, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. His sentence will be followed by two years of supervised release.
Fowlkes used a false home address on required forms when he bought 25 firearms between March 2016 and March 2017 in Indiana, prosecutors said. At least eight of the guns he bought were later recovered in the possession of other people, including minors and felons, in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.
Fowlkes' conviction comes on the heels of a report issued by the city of Chicago on how guns used in violent crimes come from outside of city limits. The 2017 Gun Trace Report showed that nearly 60 percent of guns recovered in Chicago came from out-of-state dealers, with 20 percent traced back to Indiana.
The vast majority of crime guns were handguns possessed by adults who were not the original purchaser of the firearm, the report said.
Copyright CHIST - SunTimes
Chicago PoliceDepartment of Justice