2 days Ago
Undercover Lake County Sheriff's officers were suspicious as they watched Julian Sgiers, 29, show a list of firearms to a firearms vendor and noticed his companion Tristyn Sampson, 30, fill out the paperwork to purchase the guns, according to Lake Criminal Court documents filed Tuesday. Sgiers faces multiple charges of felony use of false information to obtain a firearm, straw purchase of a firearm, dangerous control of a firearm and unlawful carrying of a handgun. Sampson was charged with felony use of false information to obtain a firearm.
After Sampson made the purchase, Sgiers grabbed the six firearms and the two swiftly left the fairgrounds in a gray Dodge Journey followed closely by a red Chrysler 300 and a gray Toyota Camry. Officers tailed the vehicles as they traveled toward the Lakeview Terrace Apartments and watched as all three vehicles parked near one another. A man identified as Sgiers got out of the Dodge and appeared to provide the other drivers with the recently purchased weapons, a probable cause affidavit shows.
Police pulled up to the apartment complex as the Chrysler left the area. Responding officers arrested the remaining three: Sgiers, Sampson and a 17-year-old who was in the Toyota, according to the document. An officer confiscated a handgun and marijuana from the Toyota along with two handguns from the Dodge.
Another officer pulled over the Chrysler for speeding and the driver told the officer he had weapons in the car he had just purchased at a gun show. The officer asked the man if he had a receipt, and he admitted he did not, the document said. The officer ordered him and his passenger out of the car and searched the vehicle, where the officer found two handguns in the front passenger floorboard and four in the backseat.
The driver confessed the four weapons in the backseat had been given to him by someone he knows as "Sam." Both individuals in the Chrysler were arrested but have not been charged with a crime. Sgiers admitted to police he had purchased the firearms and sold them to the other three individuals.
Sgiers said he initially went to help Sampson purchase a weapon herself, but had fallen on "tough times" and wanted to make extra money. He was aware he was not allowed to be around firearms because he had a felony conviction. Sampson said Sgiers asked her to buy the weapons and she was hesitant but agreed.
She said she lied on the paperwork and checked a box that asks buyers if they are indeed purchasing the guns for themselves and no one else, the affidavit said..
