Drug Dealer Sold 80 Guns to Gang Members: Prosecutors

A Lisle man was sentenced Wednesday for supplying Chicago gang members with at least 80 guns, several of which were used in shootings and other crimes, prosecutors say.

Walter Freeman, 36, pleaded guilty last year to knowingly and intentionally distributing a controlled substance and knowingly possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman sentenced Freeman to 16 years in prison.

Freeman got the guns from his co-defendant, Timothy Vana, 54 of Forest Park, in exchange crack cocaine, and he sold the guns to people he knew were members of Chicago gangs, prosecutors say.

Vera reportedly stole the guns, which included revolvers and semi-automatic weapons, from a firearms collector who lived at Vana’s family’s home in Bolingbrook, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Between 1999 and 2001, Freeman got 40 guns from Vana, and he got another 40 guns between 2010 and 2011.

Many of the weapons were recovered by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after they had been used in shootings and other crimes around Chicago, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Agents traced serial numbers on the guns to find they had been bought from the same owner — the man living in Vana’s family’s house.

The investigation led to Vana and Freeman and their drug and gun deals, prosecutors say.

In a written plea agreement, Freeman said he sold about 7 grams of crack cocaine every week from 2008 to 2013 to regular customers, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and he also acknowledged selling crack cocaine on several occasions between 2011 and 2012 to an undercover law enforcement agent.

“Defendant’s possession and sale of at least 80 weapons directly contributed to the violence that our city faces,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Levin said in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “He has victimized the entire Chicago community.”

Vana pleaded guilty in October to being a felon in possession of a firearm and knowingly possessing a firearm that he had reasonable cause to believe was stolen. His sentencing hearing will be scheduled later.

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