Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Federal Prison for Possessing a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Offense
CHICAGO — A man who possessed and brandished a loaded firearm to protect his heroin, fentanyl, and approximately $3,100 in cash has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.
On February 23, 2019, LONDON GROVER, 32, of Chicago pointed a firearm at someone attempting to steal the heroin and fentanyl that Grover held for sale. When Chicago Police Department officers responded to a call for shots fired, Grover drove away from the officers at a high rate of speed. After Grover crashed the vehicle, officers found him hiding underneath a nearby parked car. From the driver’s side floorboard of the crashed vehicle, officers recovered a loaded firearm and packages of mixed fentanyl and heroin. Grover pleaded guilty earlier this year to knowingly and intentionally possessing with the intent to distribute approximately 1.3 grams of packaged heroin and fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. At the time of the offense, GROVER had six prior felony convictions, and was on parole for an offense involving a firearm.
On November 7, 2022, U.S. District Judge Edmond E. Chang imposed a 14-year prison sentence.
The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Jeffrey L. Matthews, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; and David Brown, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney William Dunne, Deputy Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Gun Crimes Prosecution Team. The team works collaboratively with federal and local law enforcement to enhance the prosecution of illegal firearm possession in certain police districts in Chicago.
