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Man punished for gun trafficking  | | Former Rust College student Quawi Gates. |
A 27-year-old
Chicago man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for
trafficking guns from Mississippi to Illinois, including one weapon
used in the slaying of Chicago Police Officer Thomas Wortham IV. Quawi
Gates was sentenced Wednesday of last week by Judge Allen Pepper in the
Northern Judicial District of Mississippi in Greenville. The former
Englewood, Ill., resident pleaded in January to aiding and abetting in
making of false records for a firearms dealer. He
was convicted of recruiting other students at Rust College in Holly
Springs to buy guns in the state. Authorities say the guns were taken
to Chicago and ended up with gang members. Acting
U.S. Attorney William C. Martin said in a news release Thursday that
one of the guns was used in the May 19 slaying of Wortham, who was
off-duty at the time. Wortham’s supervisor,
Cmdr. Keith Calloway, traveled to Mississippi to testify against Gates.
He said it was important to be there for his late friend and colleague.
Investigators say Gates paid at least four other
young people with clean records to buy the weapons for him in
Mississippi. Gates then sold the weapons to Chicago street gang
members, who investigators say terrorized his own Englewood
neighborhood. Though Gates wasn’t charged in Wortham’s death, the slain officer’s sister holds him partly accountable. “I
think that 10 years isn’t enough,” Sandra Wortham told reporters in
Chicago. “I think the individual who bought and sold these guns to
people who are in Chicago, terrorizing these communities, are just as
guilty as the people who were out there that night.” Two
men have been charged with Wortham’s murder, as well as attempted armed
robbery. Police say they were after Wortham’s brand-new motorcycle. The officer had just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. CBS 2’s Mike Puccinelli in Chicago and The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
