Rockford Woman Sentenced to 18 Months in Federal Prison for Straw Purchasing Firearms
ROCKFORD — A Rockford woman has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for making false statements in connection with the acquisition of firearms.
KIANA MARTIN, 30, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Philip G. Reinhard in Rockford.
Martin pleaded guilty on May 18, 2022, to misrepresenting to federally licensed firearms dealers that she was the actual transferee or buyer of firearms when, in fact, she was not the actual transferee or buyer of the firearms. In a plea agreement, Martin admitted that on multiple dates she knowingly made false and fictitious written statements to the firearms dealers in connection with the acquisition of firearms, and then transferred those firearms to known felons who could not legally purchase them.
The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Ashley Johnson, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; Kristen de Tineo, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; and Carla Redd, Chief of the Rockford Police Department. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the investigation. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica S. Maveus.
