3 men sentenced to federal prison on charges of robbing UPS drive at gunpoint in Oak Park chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A Chicago man has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for possession of a switch meant to turn a handgun into an automatic weapon, and an extended gun magazine.
The 62-month sentence was the latest in a legal saga that is a sort of microcosm of how difficult it is for some to break free of the city’s culture of guns and gangs.
UpdatedThu, May 13, 2021 at 3:52 pm CT
Reply
David J. Cottrell Jr., 31, sentenced Tuesday to 27 years in federal prison, has been held in federal custody at the Metropolitan Corrections Center in Chicago since 2018. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
CHICAGO A judge on Tuesday sentenced a Park Ridge native who admitted blackmailing girls over the internet to produce videos and images of child sexual exploitation to 27 years in federal prison.
David J. Cottrell Jr., 31, who most recently lived with his mother in Niles, pleaded guilty last year and has been awaiting sentencing ever since. His sentence falls about halfway between the mandatory minimum and federal sentencing guidelines, which in this case is the most permitted by law, according to court records.
Niles man gets 27-year sentence for extorting porn from teen girl
By AP NEWS
CHICAGO - A 27-year prison sentence was handed down Tuesday to a former New York University law student who pleaded guilty to extorting child pornography from a teenage girl by threatening to humiliate and shame her online.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman acceded to federal prosecutors’ requests that David J. Cottrell, 31, receive a lengthy sentence. Cottrell’s attorneys asked for a 15-year sentence, insisting their client needs treatment for pedophilia, depression, substance abuse and other mental health issues.
Cottrell, who most recently lived in Niles, Illinois, pleaded guilty in March 2020 to sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography. Cottrell was in law school when he first made contact with his seventh-grade victim on a free online chat website in 2014.