Elgin man sentenced in gun sale case
An Elgin man was sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison Thursday for being an armed habitual criminal and unlawful possession or sale of a firearm.
DuPage County Judge Blanche Hill Fawell sentenced Roel White, 32, to 12 years in prison on the firearms charge and eight years for being an armed habitual criminal.
Assistant State's Attorney Steve Knight said White, who has previous convictions for drug possession and aggravated battery of a police officer, brought his 4-year-old child and girlfriend with him in October 2012 to Addison to sell a 12-gauge shotgun to another felon.
Knight said Addison police officers pulled over White's car for a traffic stop and White fled on foot before being caught and arrested.
Knight said when White fled, his girlfriend, Stephanie Morales, 20, also of Elgin, went to White's mother's house and the two of them attempted to continue with the sale of the weapon.
Morales pleaded guilty in February to a misdemeanor charge of unlawful possession of a firearm without a valid FOID card. White's mother, Brenda White, pleaded guilty in January to one felony count of unlawful sale or delivery of a firearm and was sentenced to two years of probation.
Knight requested a total sentence of 26 years.
"This guy was trying to make money by selling a shotgun to a felon," Knight said. "He brought his 4-year-old son to a gun deal with a felon. That's who this guy is."
White, however, begged Fawell for "leniency" and said he'll never get the help he needs for his psychiatric issues in prison.
"I don't deserve 18 years. That's a harsh sentence that gives me no chance and no opportunity to change at all," White said. "You want to put me in a cage with animals. Think about my family and my son."
Fawell called White's childhood, during which his parents were mostly incarcerated, "one of the most tragic" she's ever read.
"But at some point you have to take some responsibility for your actions," she said.
With the sentences served concurrently at 85 percent, and with credit for one year served, White will be eligible for parole in just more than nine years.