Suburban Chicago Man Sentenced to More Than 13 Years in Federal Prison on Gun and Drug Charges

CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago man has been sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison for illegally possessing multiple firearms and dealing heroin and crack cocaine.

BRIAN STAFFORD, 42, illegally possessed two loaded handguns and drugs in his vehicle and residence in Bellwood, Ill., on Nov. 2, 2016.  A day earlier, Stafford sold 101 grams of heroin to an individual who, unbeknownst to Stafford, was cooperating with law enforcement.

A federal jury in November found Stafford guilty 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 illegally possessed by Stafford were linked to thefts from a cargo train that passed through Chicago in September 2016.

U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman on Tuesday sentenced Stafford to 13 years and four months in federal prison.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.  Substantial assistance was provided by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, Evergreen Park, Ill., Police Department, and the Bolingbrook, Ill., Police Department.  The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Saurish Appleby-Bhattacharjee and Alejandro Ortega.