ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL: COOK COUNTY MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN GUNRUNNING CASE

Chicago  — Attorney General Kwame Raoul today announced that a Cook County man pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison for selling stolen firearms. The plea is part of an ongoing gunrunning case Raoul announced in 2019 following a joint investigation with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and local law enforcement agencies.

Jose Ibarra, 35, of Elmwood Park, Illinois, was sentenced in DuPage County Circuit Court to eight years in prison and three years of mandatory supervised release after pleading guilty to a Class X felony count of unlawful sale or delivery of firearms. Ibarra was also sentenced to four years in prison, to be served concurrently, and two years of mandatory supervised release after pleading guilty to a Class 1 felony count of gunrunning.

“As a direct result of my office’s work with the ATF, several stolen guns were recovered and traced to residential burglaries – before those firearms could be used in additional violent crimes,” Raoul said. “This case underscores the importance of collaboration between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies if we are to address gun violence throughout Illinois.”

Attorney General Raoul charged Ibarra and Reynaldo Gomez with gunrunning in March 2019 as the result of an investigation conducted by the Attorney General’s office, the ATF, the DuPage Metropolitan Enforcement Group, and the Norridge and Bensenville police departments.

“Firearm trafficking poses a threat to the whole community, and those responsible need to be held accountable,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Kristen de Tineo. “I commend the investigative efforts among the law enforcement community and the diligence of the Illinois Attorney General in prosecuting this case.”

The ATF initiated an investigation after discovering Gomez, who was on parole for an unrelated conviction, and Ibarra were allegedly selling stolen guns in DuPage and Cook counties. Raoul alleged that between Feb. 12 and Feb. 26, 2019, Ibarra and Gomez met with undercover agents at a Home Depot parking lot in DuPage County to arrange a firearm purchase. According to Raoul, the undercover agents purchased seven firearms, six of which the ATF recovered and traced back to residential burglaries in Cook County. Ibarra and Gomez were arrested in March 2019 and charged with gunrunning. After his arrest, Ibarra admitted that he and Gomez stole the firearms in January 2019 and sold them in February 2019. The charges against Gomez are pending.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Whitfield is handling prosecution of the case for Raoul’s Statewide Grand Jury Bureau.