A couple faces charges for a straw gun buy during a Nov. 16 gun show at the Crown Point fairgrounds.
Julian Sgiers, 29, of Gary, and his girlfriend Tristyn Sampson, 30, of Hebron were charged on Nov. 19.
Sgiers faces over a dozen felonies, including six counts of use of false information to obtain a firearm and six counts of straw purchase of a handgun.
Sampson is charged with a half-dozen felonies for use of false information to obtain a firearm.
Sgiers is in custody until Dec. 10, when he can post a $7,500 cash bond. Sampson posted her $12,000 cash bond on Nov. 21.
Their arrests were part of the latest Lake County Sheriff’s Department sting, this year involving at least three dozen detectives, charges state.
Sgiers was caught around 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 16 trying to buy a list of guns from a vendor, while he sent Sampson to get her ID card and fill out the paperwork.
They were pulled over and arrested with a 17-year-old male, Sgier’s co-worker’s son, after they left in two vehicles, heading to the nearby Lakeview Terrace apartments, 1049 S Main St. in Crown Point. Sgiers sold four guns to his childhood friend from Gary and the other to the teen.
Sgiers claimed that Sampson, his girlfriend of a few months, was just there to buy a gun for herself. He had her buy all six guns because he was a convicted felon.
The childhood friend sent him a list to buy, Sgiers said. The man has not been charged, according to filings.
Sgiers admitted he had other people buy guns that he resold. He estimated he might make a “couple hundred dollars” from the Nov. 16 buy.
He was “trying to make some money” telling investigators he had “fallen on hard times.”
Court records show Sgiers has felony convictions in Cook County, Illinois for charges including reckless discharge of a firearm and aggravated fleeing. He also has felony convictions in Indiana for domestic battery and escape.
Chicago has increasingly spotlighted guns used in their crimes from Indiana — either technically legally, or illegally purchased.
On the legal side, a 2017 Chicago Police Gun Trace report listed the since-closed Westforth Sports in Gary, Cabela’s in Hammond and since-closed Blythe’s Sports Shop in Griffith as top sellers of guns that landed on the city’s streets.
Jamel Danzy, then 30, of Hammond, admitted in 2022 that he bought the gun in a straw purchase that was used to kill Chicago Police officer Ella French in 2021. He was sentenced to 2.5 years in federal prison.
mcolias@post-trib.com
