Two Men Who Stole 366 Firearms Sentenced to Nine Years

MEMPHIS, TENN –-(Ammoland.com)- Prosecutors have sentenced two men who allegedly stole 366 guns from a United Parcel Services facility in Memphis, Tennessee a year ago to nine years in federal prison.

Roland Jackson, 24-years-old, and Taveyon Turnbo, 18-years-old, of Chicago both plead guilty to transporting and possessing the stolen firearms. Prosecutors also charged Jackson with being a felon in possession of a gun. Jackson ultimately pleaded guilty to that charge as well.

As reported by AmmoLand, On Sept. 28, 2018, the UPS facility in Memphis received a shipment of 16 pallets from the Ruger factory located in North Carolina. The shipment was due to leave the Memphis facility on Sept. 30 for Dallas, Texas.

In the early morning of Sept. 30, two men broke into the UPS facility and loaded three of the 16 pallets into a U-Haul truck. The thieves escaped into the night with 366 firearms that were chambered in .22LR and .380 ACP. The ATF asked the public for help in recovering the firearms and offered a $5,000 reward for information about the theft.

Two days later someone called the police in the Chicago suburb of Midlothian, Illinois. The caller spotted suspicious activities around U-Haul truck in a Walgreens store parking lot and was concerned. When police approached the vehicle, Jackson and Turnbo refused to unlock the doors or roll down the windows. The police eventually smashed the passenger window next to Turnbo and drew their guns on the suspicious men.

Both men jumped out of the U-Haul truck and ran from the scene through a connecting neighborhood. The police pursued the two suspects and were able to take Turnbo into custody a couple of hours later. Police were able to apprehend the other suspect a day later.

Officers stayed at the Walgreens parking lot to investigate the U-Haul as other officers chased the suspects as they fled the scene. When the officers opened the back of the U-Haul, they were astonished to find 364 of the stolen firearms from the Memphis UPS heist. Turnbo later told police that he had sold the other two guns for $400.

Law enforcement believes that Turnbo and Jackson were transporting the gun to Chicago. According to prosecutors, the two men had plans of selling the firearms on the streets of Chicago.

Although Turnbo doesn’t have a criminal history, Jackson has an extensive history with law enforcement. The courts have convicted him of residential burglary, theft, retail theft, and criminal damage to property. At the time of his arrest, he was facing three additional felony cases for retail theft.

The Memphis, TN UPS facility itself has a history of theft. In 2017, 24 guns were stolen from the same facility on their way to a gun store in Louisiana. In addition to guns, other shipments have gone missing from the same facility leading law enforcement to call on UPS to better police itself.

In addition to the nine years of federal prison time that the court sentenced the men to serve for their crimes, the court also ordered the men to be supervised for three years following their release from prison.

UPS did not return AmmoLand’s request for comment.

About John Crump

John is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is Virginia State Director for Gun Owners of America. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.

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