Indexbit-2nd woman sentenced in straw purchase of gun used to kill Illinois officer and wound another

URBANA,Indexbit Ill. (AP) — An Indianapolis woman has been sentenced to four years in prison after taking part in the straw purchase of a handgun that was used to kill one central Illinois police officer and wound another during a shootout.

Ashantae Corruthers, 30, appeared at a sentencing hearing Tuesday in federal court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois said in a news release.

Corruthers was accused of engaging in a conspiracy to illegally purchase and transfer a firearm and conspiracy to engage in misleading conduct. She pleaded guilty in June 2023 and admitted that she conspired with Regina Lewis and Darion Lafayette to buy the gun in 2020 at an Indianapolis gun store for Lafayette, Lewis’ cousin, who was a convicted felon and could not legally buy a firearm.

Corruthers falsely certified on a form for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that she bought the gun for herself. She later reported to Indianapolis police in 2021 that the gun had been stolen.

Lafayette fatally shot Officer Christopher Oberheim and wounded Officer Jeffrey Creel on May 19, 2021, after they responded to a report of a domestic disturbance at an apartment complex in Champaign, about 135 miles (217 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.

Lafayette was also fatally shot.

Lewis, of Normal, Illinois, was sentenced in December 2023 to 8 1/2 years in prison for engaging in a conspiracy to buy and transfer a firearm and a conspiracy to engage in misleading conduct.