Man gets 8-year sentence on gun, drug charges in Bellwood

Possession of a loaded semiautomatic handgun, cocaine, and heroin

Quincy J. Ar nold ille gally possessed a loaded semiautomatic handgun, cocaine and heroin on Oct. 17, 2020, in Bellwood. Bellwood police of ficers pulled over Arnold’s vehicle for a traf fic infraction near a mall parking lot. The of ficers discovered the loaded gun concealed under the floor mat of the driver’s seat, within reaching distance of Ar nold. Of ficers further discovered in Ar nold’s possession the cocaine and heroin, which were packaged for sale in more than 360 individual baggies. Arnold admitted in a plea ag reement that he intended to distribute the narcotics to others

Ar nold had previously been convicted of multiple felonies in state court and was not le gally allowed to possess a firear m.

Ar nold, 49, of Bellwood, pleaded guilty last year to federal firear m and drug charges U.S. District Judge Jorge L. Alonso imposed the sentence recently after a hearing in federal court in Chicago.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attor ney for the Norther n District of Illinois; Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler, Jr., Special Agent-inCharge of the Chicago Field Of fice of the FBI; and Jimine z Allen, Chief of the Bellwood Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attor ney Charles W. Mulaney represented the gover nment.

Holding ille gal firear m possessors and drug traf fickers accountable through federal prosecution is a center piece of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction strateg y. In the Norther n District of Illinois, U.S. Attor ney Lausch and law enforcement partners have deployed the PSN program to attack a broad range of violent crime issues facing the district, particularly firear m and drug of fenses.