Chicago Man Charged with Drug and Gun Offenses

A. Courtney Cox, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on August 4, 2009, a Federal Grand Jury sitting in Benton returned a two count indictment charging CARLOS A. KAMBER, age 38, of Chicago, Illinois, with one count of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The indictment alleges that the drug offense was committed between October 2008 and June 26, 2009, in Hardin County and that the conspiracy involved the manufacture of over 1000 marijuana plants.

An indictment is a formal charge against a defendant and is not evidence of guilt. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge and is entitled to a fair trial at which the Government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The conspiracy offense with which KAMBER is charged carries a penalty of between 10 years and life imprisonment, a fine of up to $5 million, and a term of supervised release of between 5 years and life to follow incarceration. The firearm offense carries of penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, and a term of supervised release of 3 years to follow incarceration.

KAMBER appeared in United States District Court in Benton today to be arraigned on the charges. KAMBER, who has been in the administrative custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement since his arrest on June 26th, was remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal pending further proceedings.

The on-going investigation into the case is currently being led by the Carmi office of the Southern Illinois Drug Task Force, with the assistance of the Illinois State Police, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Hardin County Sheriff’s Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney James M. Cutchin.