URBANA, Ill. — A woman has been sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison after participating in the purchase of a gun used to kill a central Illinois police officer and wound another during a shootout.
Regina Lewis, 28, of Normal, Illinois, engaged in a conspiracy to purchase and transfer a firearm and a conspiracy to engage in deceptive conduct, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of Illinois said in a news release Tuesday.
Lewis was sentenced on Friday. She previously admitted that she conspired with Ashantae Corruthers and Darion Lafayette to buy the gun in 2020 from an Indianapolis gun shop for Lafayette, Lewis' cousin, who was a convicted felon and could not legally purchase a firearm.
Corruthers falsely stated on a form for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that she had purchased the gun for herself. She later reported to Indianapolis police in 2021 that the gun had been stolen.
Lafayette fatally shot Officer Christopher Oberheim and wounded Officer Jeffrey Creel on May 19, 2021, after they responded to a report of a domestic disturbance at an apartment complex in Champaign.
Lafayette was also fatally shot.
Indianapolis corruthers pleaded guilty in June to conspiring to defraud the government by purchasing the gun and transferring it to Lafayette and covering up the transaction by falsely reporting its theft. Her sentencing is scheduled for February 12, 2024.