Shelby County Sheriff Office Records Destruction Confirmed – Gun Sale Responses Conflict!

Shelby Co. (ECWd) –

We have finally confirmed the Sheriff’s Office destroyed key records while in the middle of a payroll audit and criminal investigation. After numerous requests in an attempt to confirm if records were in fact actually destroyed, the last response today confirms it.

“The records disposal certificate was approved by the Local Records Commission for disposal; therefore, those records were destroyed.”

This is the same office that claimed in 2018 that they had not sold any seized weapons, which was not true.  The very guns seized and logged into evidence were the very gun sales we were tipped off about in 2018.  Note the date of our request, May 18, 2018.  As we continued to dig for more evidence, which we have had for some time now, we filed a FOIA for the same stuff in 2019.

The response is most telling in light of what I was told in 2018.

2018 – “…there were no seized weapons sold by the Shelby Co. Sheriff’s Office”

2019 – “It was determined that the gun sale on February 23, 2018, may not have complied with the Illinois Compiled Statutes”

So when we asked originally in May of 2018, it’s clear the guns in question had already been sold as confirmed in the 2019 response.  Even more interesting is how after our request for this information in 2018 they “determined” the sale was not legal and “rescinded” the sale on May 30th of 2018, which was a whopping 12 days after our original 2018 inquiry.  By all indications, the 2018 request sent panic through the office because it became a mad dash to attempt to get the guns returned after our initial request, which falsely informed us no seized weapons were sold.

We note that illegal gun sales from the Shelby County Sheriff’s office are nothing new.  Note in the 2019 linked documents numerous guns were sold in 2014.

To date, no one in Shelby County has been able to produce an actual court order releasing guns from evidence, a requirement under the law.

To date, neither the Federal Authorities nor State Authorities have ever held a Sheriff accountable for the illegal sales of seized weapons.  In Shelby County, the State’s Attorney has recused herself from prosecuting anyone in the Sheriff’s office. So much for tough on crime as it appears that motto is selective to who the alleged criminal is.

We do understand that the illegal gun sales have been part of an active investigation by the State Police and were referred to the Attorney General for a charging decision back in December of 2020.

Stay tuned for so much more on illegal gun sales and their whereabouts.