Chicago Man Charged in Federal Court With Trafficking “Ghost Guns”

DOJ Press

CHICAGO — A Chicago man has been charged in federal court with trafficking individually manufactured “ghost guns” in the city this year.

DEVON DOW, 22, is charged with willfully dealing firearms without a license.  He was arrested Tuesday afternoon.  A detention hearing is set for Friday at 1:00 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Heather K. McShain.

The charge and arrest were announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Angie Salazar, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of Homeland Security Investigations; and David Brown, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.  The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives provided valuable assistance.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Peabody.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, Dow sold seven “ghost guns” on five different occasions in Chicago this year.  The transactions allegedly occurred in a parking lot in the Grand Crossing neighborhood on the city’s South Side.  The firearms were considered “ghost guns” because they contained no identifiable serial number and had been manufactured from parts collected from various sources.  Unbeknownst to Dow, the individual to whom he sold the guns was an undercover law enforcement officer, the complaint states.


Disrupting illegal firearms trafficking is a centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s cross-jurisdictional strike force aimed at reducing gun violence.  As part of the Chicago firearms trafficking strike force, the U.S. Attorney’s Office collaborates with ATF, HSI, CPD, and other federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in the Northern District of Illinois and across the country to help stem the supply of illegally trafficked firearms and identify patterns, leads, and potential suspects in violent gun crimes.


Holding illegal firearm possessors accountable through federal prosecution is also a focus of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) – the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction strategy.  In the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. Attorney Lausch and law enforcement partners have deployed the PSN program to attack a broad range of violent crime issues facing the district.

The public is reminded that a complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt.  The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  The charge in the complaint is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.  If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

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