Self Described "One Stop Shop" for Drugs and Guns Sentenced to More Than Eleven Years in Federal Prison
CHICAGO — A southwest suburban man who described himself as a “one stop shop” for narcotics and firearms has been sentenced to eleven and a half years in federal prison.
ANTOINE JACKSON, 42, of Tinley Park, sold heroin, three guns and ammunition to an individual in the summer of 2017. The sales netted Jackson a total of $6,565 in cash. Unbeknownst to Jackson, the buyer was an informant working on behalf of law enforcement. Jackson also sold heroin to the informant on later occasions, earning an additional $4,500.
Jackson pleaded guilty last year to one count of dealing firearms without a license, one count of distribution of a controlled substance, and one count of using and carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman on May 23, 2019, imposed a 138-month prison sentence.
The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Timothy Jones, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives. Substantial assistance was provided by the Chicago Police Department, Matteson Police Department, Tinley Park Police Department, and Will County Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad.
“In a city that has seen shootings and homicides in astronomical numbers, illegal dealing of firearms should not be tolerated,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tobara S. Richardson argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “The collateral effect of drug trafficking is to flood the streets with these substances that breed addiction and violence and that undermine the safety of communities.”
Jackson admitted in a plea agreement that he sold heroin and guns to the informant in three transactions in June 2017. Two deals occurred at Jackson’s residence in Tinley Park, while a third transaction was held in a Tinley Park forest preserve. During the deal in the forest preserve, Jackson showed the informant a gun that was tucked in Jackson’s waistband.
The guns sold by Jackson included an AK-47 rifle and two handguns, with extended magazines for each of them. While arranging one of the deals with the informant, Jackson referred to himself as a “one stop shop” for firearms and narcotics.
Jackson also admitted in his plea agreement that he sold the informant heroin in December 2017 and March 2018. Those sales netted Jackson $4,500. The March 2018 deal occurred in a restaurant parking lot in Oak Forest.
Holding gun traffickers and drug dealers accountable through federal prosecution is a centerpiece of Project Safe Neighborhoods – the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction strategy. In the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. Attorney Lausch and federal law enforcement agencies have deployed the PSN program to attack a broad range of violent crime issues facing the district, including by prosecuting individuals who illegally traffic firearms or who carry firearms in connection with drug trafficking offenses.
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