By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
A Chicago Public Schools special education teacher is accused of supplying a handgun magazine, laser sighting device and ammunition to a convicted felon working undercover for the FBI.
Brent Turpin, a 53-year-old teacher at Kershaw Elementary in violence-torn Englewood, was charged Wednesday with federal weapons offenses, including providing a firearm and ammunition to a known felon, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The Tribune wrote:
The informant is a close friend of a juvenile with gang ties who is under Turpin’s guardianship, according to the charges.
The juvenile is in custody awaiting trial on reckless homicide charges. The complaint alleged the juvenile is also “believed to have been involved” in the burglary of the South Post Guns store in Streator, which led to federal charges against three men in May.
While the charges do not allege Turpin gave the undercover informant any guns, a federal prosecutor revealed at a detention hearing Wednesday that Turpin is believed to have dealt “firearms and ammunition to felons, youths and gang members” on multiple occasions.
The investigation also showed that a 15-year-old boy was shot and wounded in the basement of Turpin’s Far South Side home last Thanksgiving weekend, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ankur Srivastava said in court.
