Deon Evans, a 42-year-old resident of Markham, Illinois, was resentenced on July 13 to forty years and eight months in federal prison for trafficking heroin and methamphetamine, carrying and possessing a firearm during drug trafficking crimes, and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
At the resentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Colin S. Bruce determined that Evans faced a mandatory consecutive twenty-five-year sentence for carrying a firearm while distributing heroin and possessing a firearm in furtherance of his possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Judge Bruce also found that Evans was involved in the trafficking of at least eight to twenty-four firearms and had obstructed justice by providing false testimony during his case. The court imposed an enhanced sentence because Evans was on federal supervised release from a 2007 conviction at the time of these offenses.
Evans was originally convicted after a jury trial in January 2020. During the three-day trial, evidence showed that in July 2016 he traveled from Markham to Gilman, Illinois, where he sold 48.4 grams of heroin for $4,500 at a gas station. In August 2016, he returned with an associate and two loaded firearms to sell another 124.3 grams of heroin for $11,250 at the same location.
Following this second sale in August 2016, Illinois State Police troopers stopped Evans on Interstate 57. A search revealed cash hidden under the back seat, two fully loaded firearms with an extra magazine, and 173 ecstasy pills containing methamphetamine. Trial evidence established that one firearm—a Glock Model 30—was acquired by trading two grams of heroin plus $100; it had been stolen from Indiana. Additional evidence showed that Evans used straw purchasers to buy fourteen guns in Birmingham, Alabama; some were later recovered after being used in violent crimes.
Judge Bruce first sentenced Evans in January 2022, but following an appeal by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, remanded the case for an evidentiary hearing regarding possible ineffective assistance by defense counsel before resentencing him again consecutively to his previous sentence out of Iowa federal court.
The investigation involved several agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Division Springfield Resident Office; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives offices from Springfield (Illinois) and Birmingham (Alabama); as well as Illinois State Police. Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller prosecuted throughout this case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois serves as part of the Department of Justice prosecuting federal crimes across forty-six counties through partnerships with law enforcement agencies while supporting community safety initiatives, according to its official website.