Northern Ohio illegal-gun indictments rise in '11

When sentenced late last year for involvement in a shootout in his Sylvania Township neighborhood, Rogelio Rodriguez was ordered to serve 15 years in federal prison — not for shooting the guns, but merely for owning them.

Rodriguez was one of dozens of people in Toledo and beyond indicted in federal court for being a felon illegally possessing a firearm. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, a total of 218 illegal firearm indictments were filed in 2011 throughout northern Ohio — 33 of those in U.S. District Court in Toledo.

“This office places a high priority on keeping firearms out of the hands of those who are forbidden by law from obtaining them,” Steven Dettelbach, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said in a written statement, adding that “we will aggressively pursue those who would violate our nation’s firearms laws.”

The number of indictments filed in 2011 is among the highest filed in the last decade. According to information from the U.S. Department of Justice, last year’s filings were just two below the 10-year high of 220 in 2005.

In 2010, 166 indictments were filed and in 2009, the number was 156.

Federal and local officials have long been publicizing efforts to remove illegal guns from Toledo’s streets. In June, a joint federal, state, and local program named V-GRIP, or Violence Gun Reduction and Interdiction Program, was initiated to bring the agencies together to share intelligence, target crime hot spots, and make arrests.

U.S. District Judge James Carr said that along with publicizing arrests, more attention should focus on the lengthy prison sentences handed down.

In addition to Rodriguez — whom Judge Carr sentenced to two consecutive 90-month terms for owning two 38-caliber handguns used during a December, 2010, shootout — a Detroit man was sentenced to five years in prison in November for firing three times into a vehicle parked at Westfield Franklin Park mall.

Edmund Robinson pleaded guilty in April to being a felon in possession of a firearm for the January, 2011, incident.

At both sentencing hearings, Judge Carr noted that because the men had previously been convicted of felonies, they were not legally able to own or carry guns.