Aurora Man, Reported Gang Member, Led Drug Trafficking Group: Feds

AURORA, IL — A 40-year-old Aurora man is among 13 people who were charged by federal prosecutors on Thursday for allegedly trafficking fentanyl and cocaine on Chicago’s West Side, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

Terrance Sanders was among those charged by federal prosecutors, who said that the Aurora resident led a trafficking organization that operated an open-air market in the 3400 block of West Chicago Avenue, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Sanders and others used a “stash house” in Chicago to store drugs and prepare them for delivery to the open-air market, where they were sold to customers, according to the criminal complaint. A 32-year-old Glendale Heights man, Shavelle Sims, is accused of supervising the collection of drug proceeds and meeting with Sanders to re-supply the drugs as needed, according to the criminal complaint.

The majority of the 13 defendants were arrested on Friday, prosecutors said after investigators executed search warrants on multiple locations in Chicago and across the suburbs, prosecutors said. Investigators seized 10 guns, two 50-round drum ammunition magazines, several extended magazines, more than a kilogram of cocaine and more than 250 grams of cocaine containing fentanyl, prosecutors said.

Federal agents also seized nine vehicles that authorities said were used in the trafficking of the drugs.

Many of the defendants, including Sanders, are reported members of the Traveling Vice Lords street gang, prosecutors said. In addition to federal drug charges, the 13 defendants also face weapons charges for weapons that officials said were used in the trafficking of the drugs.