EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) -- A man accused with some fellow Chicagoans of gun-shop burglaries in three states has been ordered to spend nine years in federal prison for his role in one of the break-ins.
Twenty-year-old Denis Joiner was sentenced in East St. Louis, where he pleaded guilty in November to charges of theft, conspiracy and possession of stolen firearms.
Authorities say Joiner and three other Chicago men burglarized DT Enterprises in December 2011 in Salem. Prosecutors say the burglars stole 124 firearms, taking those weapons back to Chicago to sell.
Two of the co-defendants are serving lesser prison terms. The fourth one was killed in Chicago in January of last year.
Prosecutors say the defendants were suspected in the thefts of hundreds of guns from registered dealers in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
