CHICAGO — An Englewood elementary school special education teacher is facing federal firearms charges for allegedly dealing ammunition and gun accessories on the city’s South Side, the FBI reported Friday.
Brent Turpin, 53, illegally supplied an extended handgun magazine, a laser sight and two boxes of ammunition to a convicted felon who, unbeknownst to Turpin, was cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in federal court in Chicago.
Turpin, who supplied the materials to the informant earlier this month in Turpin’s residence on the South Side of Chicago, was arrested Tuesday. A detention hearing is scheduled for Friday at 3:00 p.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge M. David Weisman in Chicago.
The accused is a special education teacher at Kershaw Elementary School in the heart of Chicago's killing fields. He is reportedly paid $78,000, and has worked at CPS schools since 2008.
The complaint charges Turpin with one count of conspiracy to dispose of a firearm and ammunition to a known felon, and one count of disposing of ammunition to a known felon.
In addition to the disposal of the ammunition and materials, the complaint also describes Turpin’s efforts to secure a firearm for the informant at a gun show in Indiana. As the pair traveled together to the show earlier this summer, Turpin allegedly instructed the informant on what to say and do. “If they ask you if you’re from Indiana, say yes,” Turpin told the informant, according to the complaint. “If they say where [are] you from, say like, say South Bend or something, or Indianapolis,” Turpin said, according to the complaint. Turpin and the informant met with a gun dealer at the show, but it did not result in a deal because Turpin declined to present his driver’s license, the complaint states.
The charge of conspiring to distribute firearms and ammunition is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and the charge of distributing ammunition is punishable by a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
