Woman pleads guilty to straw purchase of gun used to kill Illinois officer

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — A woman has pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from the straw purchase of a gun used to fatally shoot one central Illinois police officer and wound another in 2021. Twenty-nine-year-old Ashantae Corruthers entered the plea Thursday to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the government. She is accused of buying and transferring a gun to 24-year-old Darion Marquise Lafayette and covering up the transaction by falsely reporting to Indianapolis police that the gun had been stolen. Lafayette shot Champaign police Officer Christopher Oberheim on May 19, 2021. The News-Gazette of Champaign reports Corruthers faces up to 25 years in prison when she is sentenced Nov. 6.