8th pleads guilty in theft of police guns

ABERDEEN, Miss. -- A former state inmate pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to steal guns from a police station in the Mississippi Delta and send them to Chicago.

Andre Redmond pleaded guilty to four federal charges, including conspiring to steal 11 police pistols from the Greenwood Police Department in 2005 and 2006, according to court records. No sentencing date was immediately announced.

Redmond was serving a five-year sentence for accessory to auto theft at the time of the thefts. He changed his plea from not guilty the same day his trial was to begin in U.S. District Court in Aberdeen. Seven others had already pleaded guilty and at least some of them were to testify against him.

Prosecutors said Redmond, who was part of a state inmate work program, conspired with other inmates, his girlfriend, a county road department employee and others to smuggle the guns out of the police station and send them to Chicago, where Redmond had an "Uncle Blood."

At least seven of the pistols were found in Chicago, according to court records. Five machine guns and 90 pounds of marijuana also were taken from the Greenwood Police Department in 2005 and 2006.

Between September 2005 and January 2006, inmates working at the police station saw guns in a locked closet, prosecutors said. They had been escorted to the closet to get supplies to perform their jobs, according to the indictment.

Two of the inmates -- Cedrick Lowery and Freddie "Fox" McGee -- figured out a way to get into the closet by removing a ceiling tile in an adjacent room. Both men have pleaded guilty.

Lowery climbed into the closet and handed McGee 11 Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistols, according to the indictment. They put the guns in a garbage bag and stashed them in a closet in City Hall.

Lowery allegedly called Redmond, who was part of the work program at the Leflore County Community Work Center. Redmond and his supervisor, a county public works employee, allegedly picked up the guns and later delivered them to Redmond's girlfriend, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors say some of the pistols eventually ended up in Chicago.