Brandon Hoskins, 32, of Centralia, Illinois, pleaded guilty on Aug. 11, 2016, in US District Court to possession of a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking offense, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Donald S. Boyce, announced today. Brandon Hoskins faces a minimum sentence of 5 years in prison for this offense.
Hoskins was investigated following the Nov. 29, 2014, burglary of Buchheit’s of Centralia. In that burglary, forty (40) firearms and more than a thousand rounds of ammunition were stolen. Dakota Moss, also of Centralia, was sentenced to 248 months imprisonment on Sept. 11, 2015, for committing that burglary.
Court records established that two of the guns stolen during the Buchheit’s burglary were eventually transferred to Brandon Hoskins. When agents went to Hoskins’ home on December 5, 2014, to search for the stolen firearms, they discovered a separate Glock pistol in his bedroom, along with an amount of heroin, a drug log book and drug packaging materials. Hoskins admitted that he kept that firearm as protection related to his drug dealing. The two stolen firearms were eventually recovered by law enforcement officials.
Hoskins will be sentenced on Dec. 13, 2016.
Three other defendants charged in connection with the Buchheit’s burglary are scheduled for trial on Nov. 28, 2016. Under the law, those defendants are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The investigation is being conducted by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Explosives, the Centralia Police Department, along with the Clinton County States Attorney’s office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
