Illinois woman sentenced for buying gun used to kill police officer

Posted on December 27, 2023
28-year-old Regina Lewis was sentenced for conspiracy to illegally purchase and transfer a firearm, and conspiracy to engage in misleading conduct. (WJBC File Photo)

By WMBD-TV

URBANA – A Normal woman was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in federal prison on Friday.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 28-year-old Regina Lewis was sentenced for conspiracy to illegally purchase and transfer a firearm, and conspiracy to engage in misleading conduct.

She pleaded guilty on May 16 that she conspired with Darion M. Lafayette and Ashantae Corruthers to purchase and transfer a firearm to Lafayette, who could not buy a firearm due to being a convicted felon.

At her sentencing hearing in Urbana on Friday, U.S. District Judge Colin Bruce found her sentencing guideline — the advisory chart used by judges to gauge where a sentence should be — was around 18 to 24 months behind bars. However, Bruce, after federal prosecutors sought a stiffer sentence, went up to 102 months of imprisonment.

On Nov. 17, Corruthers falsely certified she was buying the firearm, when she was buying it for Lafayette. Lewis admitted that she conspired to cover up the illegal purchases by having Corruthers report the gun stolen to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on April 26, 2021.

Less than a month later, in May 2021, Lafayette used the gun in a shooting that led to the death of Champaign Police Officer Christopher Oberheim. Lafayette was killed in a shootout following the officer’s death.

Corruthers is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 12, 2024.

WMBD-TV can be reached at [email protected].

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