CHICAGO, IL – A brazen daylight robbery on Chicago’s South Side landed 24-year-old Cortez Price a nearly eight-year federal prison sentence. Price, of Chicago, wasn’t targeting a convenience store or a passerby – he robbed an undercover law enforcement officer during an attempted gun deal.
On May 2, 2022, Price arranged to meet the officer in the parking lot of a drug store in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. The deal: a handgun equipped with a dangerous “switch” – a device that converts a semi-automatic pistol into a fully automatic machine gun. Price accepted $1,900 in cash from the officer, then immediately turned on him. Instead of handing over the firearm, Price loaded a high-capacity magazine and racked the slide, brandishing the weapon.
He then fled with both the money and the loaded gun. Law enforcement, aided by aerial surveillance, quickly tracked Price to a nearby residence where he was arrested. This wasn’t a one-time event, officials say. Price had previously sold three firearms to the same undercover officer and had been negotiating numerous other firearms transactions via social media, establishing a pattern of illegal gun trafficking.
U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman handed down the 93-month sentence Wednesday after a hearing in federal court. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Hayes argued that Price “became part of one of the district’s most pressing crime problems,” highlighting the devastating impact of gun violence on Chicago communities. The government clearly sought to make an example of Price, sending a message about the consequences of arming criminals and preying on law enforcement.
The case was a collaborative effort led by U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch, Jr. for the Northern District of Illinois, alongside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Chicago Police Department (CPD). Support was also provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This prosecution falls under the Department of Justice’s Chicago Firearms Trafficking Strike Force, a multi-agency initiative aimed at disrupting the flow of illegal firearms into the city.
The sentencing of Cortez Price is also part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a broader Department of Justice program focused on reducing violent crime. U.S. Attorney Lausch and his law enforcement partners intend to aggressively pursue federal prosecution of illegal firearm possessors, tackling a range of violent crime issues plaguing the Northern District of Illinois.
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