Normal woman pleads guilty to illegally purchasing firearm used to shoot and kill Champaign Police Officer

PEORIA (25News Now) - A 28-year-old Normal woman will be sentenced in October, after pleading guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to illegally purchase and transfer a firearm and conspiracy to engage in misleading conduct.

The Department of Justice says 28-year-old Regina Lewis admitted that she conspired with co-defendant Ashantae Corruthers and Darion M. Lafayette, now deceased, to purchase and transfer a firearm to Lafayette, who could not legally purchase a firearm himself because he was a convicted felon.

During a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan E. Hawley, the Government said that on November 17, 2020, at the direction of Lafayette and Lewis, Corruthers purchased a Glock 48, nine-millimeter, semi-automatic pistol and ammunition from a federal firearms licensee in Indianapolis. The DOJ says during the purchase, Corruthers falsely certified on an ATF form that she was the actual buyer of the firearm, when she purchased it for Lafayette and transferred it to him.

Lewis also admitted, according to the Department of Justice, that she conspired with Corruthers and Lafayette to cover up the discovery of the illegal purchase and transfer of the firearm by having Corruthers falsely report to the Indianapolis Metropolitain Police Department in April of 2021 that the Glock pistol was stolen from her around March 2021.

The government says that, approximately twenty-three days after Corruthers falsely reported the firearm stolen, Lafayette used the firearm to shoot and kill Champaign Police Officer Christopher Oberheim in Champaign, Illinois.

The Department of Justice adds Lewis admitted that she and Corruthers continued the cover-up after Oberheim’s death by agreeing to have Corruthers falsely tell an ATF Special Agent investigating the officer-involved shooting that she purchased the gun for herself, that it was stolen from her in March 2021, and she did not know Lafayette.

Regina Lewis faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy to illegally purchase and transfer a firearm, and up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to engage in misleading conducts. She remains in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending the sentencing.

The Department of Justice adds Corruther’s trial is set to begin on June 27, 2023 in Urbana.