Four Peoria residents charged federally for allegedly conspiring to break into gun stores

Posted on August 22, 2023
Police car
All four are due back in court later this month. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By WMBD

PEORIA – Four Peoria residents were ordered held in the custody of the U.S. Marshals for unsuccessfully trying to break into several gun stores last week across central Illinois.

Terrance Daniels, Dezmond Hardy, Erika Garner and Shaleik Ward all appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Hawley on the single count of conspiring to steal guns from a federal firearms licensee. The charge has a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

According to a 15-page complaint filed in the U.S. Clerk’s Office on Monday, the gun stores that were targeted were Mean Metal in Spring Valley; Powder Keg Outfitters in Taylorville; Guns and Glory in Le Roy; the Tactical Bunker in Lincoln; Archers Alley in Decatur and Smiley’s Sports Shop in Bloomington.

They went to Mean Metal on Aug. 14, broke out a window but couldn’t get into the store, according to the complaint. Then on Aug. 15, they went to Powder Keg Outfitters, tried the same thing but still couldn’t get in. In both of those cases, it was Daniels and Hardy who were in on the attempt. Garner was allegedly linked to the Powder Keg incident.

At Guns and Glory in Le Roy, the trio circled the business to assess the security measures but then left. That was Aug. 17. That same day, they went to the Tactical Bunker, Archers Alley and Smiley’s Sports Shop.

In all cases, they never took any weapons. Ward was in the vehicle when they went to Archers Alley and the Bloomington store, according to the complaint.

All four are set to appear in federal court later this month.

Daniels was convicted and sentenced to 33 months in federal prison in 2021 for a nearly identical case. He was released from federal prison in mid-2022 and put on supervised release, the federal version of parole.

WMBD News can be reached at [email protected].

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