Terrell D. Cleggett, 35, of Centralia, Illinois, was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison on Feb. 21, 2017 for possession of a firearm by a felon and being in possession of stolen firearms, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Donald S. Boyce, announced today. Cleggett was also ordered to pay a $200 mandatory special assessment, and to serve three years of supervised release after he is released from prison.
Cleggett 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. Two co-defendants previously pled guilty and were sentenced with one receiving 60 months’ and the other 248 months’ of imprisonment. A juvenile accomplice was prosecuted by state authorities. Two remaining co-defendants, Justin Gibson and Michael Rink, charged in connection with the Buchheit’s burglary have both pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Court records established that two of the guns stolen during the Buchheit’s burglary were eventually transferred from the juvenile accomplice to Terrell Cleggett, who knew or had reason to know that the firearms were stolen. Thirty-eight of the stolen firearms were eventually recovered by law enforcement officials, including the two firearms included in the prosecution of Cleggett.
The investigation is being conducted by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms 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
