CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–April 29, 2014. A former Crest Hill man was sentenced to more than nine years in federal prison for illegally trafficking and possessing five firearms that his sister illegally bought in Missouri and shipped to him in Illinois. The defendant, RICHARD CARRINO, a previously convicted felon who was barred from possessing guns, obliterated the serial numbers on at least three of the guns that he sold to an undercover ATF agent who was posing as a convicted felon and could not obtain guns on his own.
Carrino, 29, also known as “R.J.,” was sentenced to 110 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer who imposed the sentence yesterday in Federal Court in Chicago.
“Carrino’s conduct reflects a complete lack of respect for the laws and rules of society, particularly with respect to keeping handguns out of the hands of felons,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher McFadden argued at sentencing.
Carrino’s sister, ANGELA MARIE CARRINO, 25, of O’Fallon, Mo., is scheduled to be sentenced on May 23 after also pleading guilty in the case.
Both defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deliver firearms to a person who did not live in the same state, to sell firearms to a convicted felon, and to make false statements in records kept by a federally licensed gun dealership, and Richard Carrino also pleaded guilty to being a felon-in-possession of firearms.
Both defendants admitted that they conspired between November 2012 and February 2013 to have Angela Marie Carrino make illegal “straw purchases” of firearms from licensed dealers in Missouri, and illegally transfer them to her brother, a convicted felon who lived in Illinois. They discussed types of guns to obtain and Richard Carrino sent his sister money to make the purchases. She falsely certified that she was the actual buyer of the firearms and then shipped at least five firearms from Missouri to her brother in Illinois. Richard Carrino, in turn, sold or transferred three of the firearms to an undercover agent, believing that the individual was a convicted felon.
Three of the firearms – two .45 caliber semi-automatic Hi-Point pistols and a 9- millimeter semi-automatic Hi-Point model C-9 handgun – were obtained by ATF agents during the investigation.
The sentence was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Carl Vasilko, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Chicago.
Source: justice.gov
