By HOI ABC
CHICAGO – A federal judge has sentenced a Bloomington man to 16 years in prison after a jury last year found him guilty of trying to traffic cocaine in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.
Tekoa Q. Tinch, 34, was convicted of attempting to possess cocaine with intent to distribute. Federal prosecutors said Tinch tried to buy a kilogram of cocaine in a grocery store parking lot in May 2018. Authorities say the cocaine was fake and the seller was an undercover law enforcement officer.
A June 2018 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office said Tinch was among more than 50 people charged in the “Operation Full Circle” probe of drug sales on Chicago’s west side.
The same news release said Tinch also offered to kidnap a man who allegedly owed a debt to Mexico-based narcotics officers in exchange for cash and drugs. Authorities said at the time that Tinch had two guns, steel chains, and duct tape in his vehicle.
Wednesday’s news release included a statement from one of the prosecutors.
“For many years the City of Chicago and other areas in the Northern District of Illinois have been plagued by drug trafficking, along with the violent crime that often accompanies drug trafficking,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John D. Mitchell argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum.
“While drug trafficking is always a serious crime, the circumstances of defendant’s offense of conviction are particularly serious,” Mitchell said.
