Schaumburg Man Among Accused Of Trafficking Guns From St. Louis

CHICAGO — Four men, including a resident of Schaumburg, are accused of trafficking guns from St. Louis to Chicago. The four were charged with federal firearm offenses, according to a news release.

Criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago accuse Robert Narup, 71, of Washington, Missouri, of buying firearms at gun shows throughout the United States and illegally selling them to Jerome Boykin, 30, in St. Louis. Boykin then brought the guns to Chicago and sold them to Rogelio Mancera, 27, of Schaumburg, in exchange for marijuana. Mancera re-sold the guns to Rodolfo Ortega, 26, of Chicago, who in turn would sell them to various buyers on the streets of Chicago, according to the news release.

Mancera is charged with willfully dealing firearms without a license. He was arrested Tuesday after federal agents searched his storage locker in Schaumburg and discovered more than 25 firearms, including machine guns, the complaint states. Mancera made an initial appearance Thursday morning in federal court in Chicago.

Narup is charged with willfully dealing firearms without a license. He was arrested on Oct. 15 in the St. Louis area after selling 18 firearms and two silencers to an undercover law enforcement agent in a retail store parking lot. Narup appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri. He will appear in federal court in Chicago on a date to be set.

Boykin is charged with possessing a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. He was arrested in the Chicago area on Oct. 8 after selling more than 20 firearms to Mancera in exchange for marijuana. Boykin made an initial appearance Wednesday in federal court in Chicago.

Ortega is charged with illegally possessing two firearms that he allegedly sold to an individual in Chicago on Oct. 5. As a previously convicted felon, Ortega was not lawfully allowed to possess a firearm, according to the news release. He was arrested Monday and is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing this afternoon in federal court in Chicago.

ATF and CPD’s recently created Gun Investigations Team investigated the case. Assistance was provided by the ATF St. Louis Field Office of the ATF Kansas City, Missouri Field Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Missouri.

Disrupting illegal firearms trafficking is a centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s cross-jurisdictional strike force aimed at reducing gun violence, according to the news release. As part of the Chicago firearms trafficking strike force, the U.S. Attorney’s Office collaborates with ATF, 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.

The firearm charge against Boykin carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison and a maximum of life. The charge against Ortega is punishable by up to 10 years, while the charges against Narup and Mancera carry a maximum of five years. If convicted, the Court must impose reasonable sentences under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, according to the news release.