URBANA, Ill. (WAND) – Two women have been arrested in connection to the shooting death of Champaign Police Officer Christopher Oberheim.
According to the States Attorney’s Office, a federal grand jury returned an indictment on October 4, 2022, charging Ashantae S. Corruthers, 28, of the 5000 block of Port Hope Drive in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Regina Lewis, 27, of the 1200 block of Major Street in Normal, Illinois, with conspiracy to illegally purchase and transfer a firearm and conspiracy to engage in misleading conduct.
The indictment and a related complaint were unsealed on October 14, 2022.
Federal authorities report that Corruthers and Lewis allegedly conspired with Darion M. Lafayette, now deceased, to purchase and transfer a firearm to Lafayette, who could not legally purchase a firearm himself because he was a convicted felon.
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According to the indictment, Corruthers purchased a Glock 48, nine-millimeter, semi-automatic pistol and nine-millimeter ammunition from a federal firearms licensee (FFL) in Indianapolis.
The indictment further alleges that Corruthers and Lewis conspired with Lafayette to cover up the discovery of their illegal purchase and transfer of the firearm by having Corruthers falsely report to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on April 26, 2021, that the Glock pistol was stolen from her around March of 2021.
According to the indictment, Corruthers and Lewis continued the cover-up after Officer Oberheim’s death by agreeing to have Corruthers falsely tell an ATF Special Agent investigating the officer-involved shooting that she purchased the gun for herself, that it was stolen from her in March of 2021, and that she did not know Lafayette.
Corruthers and Lewis were arrested on the charges on October 13, 2022.
Both appeared by video before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan E. Hawley in Peoria on October 14, 2022.
Magistrate Judge Hawley set a detention hearing for Corruthers on October 19, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. and a hearing for Lewis on that same date at 10:15 a.m.
If convicted, conspiracy to illegally purchase and transfer a firearm carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and conspiracy to engage in misleading conduct carries a penalty of up to twenty years in prison. Each charge carries a penalty of up to three years of supervised release, and up to a $250,000 fine.
Members of the public are reminded that an indictment is merely an accusation; the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
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