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1st suspect to be sentenced in Chicago train guns theft

CHICAGO (AP) - A purported street gang member is set to be sentenced for the heist of 100 newly minted guns that put a focus on security at a major Norfolk Southern rail yard in a high-crime part of Chicago.

Andrew Shelton's sentencing Tuesday is for stealing revolvers, rifles and other guns off a freight train that had stopped overnight at the South Side facility in 2015. Three such thefts occurred from 2014 to 2016.

Prosecutors say the guns fell quickly into the hands of gangs and drug dealers. They've linked those weapons to Chicago's gun violence.

Shelton is the first of eight defendants up for sentencing. Prosecutors are seeking an 11ˆ½-year prison term. They say the 43-year-old Shelton received less time for six previous train-theft convictions and those sentences didn't deter him.

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