CHICAGO — A man allegedly found carrying $3.5 million worth of cocaine in his luggage at Chicago Midway International Airport was released to await trial by a judge, who told him to stay in Illinois and show up to court.
Terrence Slaughter, 55, was arrested at Midway on October 24, the 16th anniversary of the day a federal judge sentenced him to 15.67 years for stealing guns from a retired cop and intentionally selling them to gang members, according to court records.
Chicago police said Slaughter gave investigators consent to search his two roller bags at Midway shortly before 2 p.m. last Tuesday. Cops found 12 vacuum-sealed bags of suspected cocaine in one bag and 11 sealed bags of suspected cocaine in the other, documents accompanying the criminal complaint said.
Altogether, the investigators recovered 62 pounds of suspected cocaine with a street value of $3,518,125, according to the complaint.
Prosecutors charged Slaughter with Class X manufacture-delivery of cocaine. They did not, however, ask Judge David Kelly to detain Slaughter before trial. So, the judge released him with instructions to show up for court, stay in the state, and stay away from Midway, the clerk of court records show.
October 24 has been a pivotal date in Slaughter’s life. In addition to being the date police arrested him at Midway, on October 24, 2007, a federal judge in Chicago sentenced him to 188 months in prison.
That case began in May 2003 after law enforcement officers saw Slaughter carrying two rifles out of a retired Illinois State Police sergeant’s home in suburban North Riverside, according to federal court filings. The police allegedly found eight more guns in his car.
Slaughter “admitted to stealing a total of 33 to 38 guns from the police sergeant’s home and selling some of the firearms to known gang members,” an appellate court later wrote, saying he pleaded guilty to two federal gun charges without securing a plea deal.
On October 24, 2007, a federal judge sentenced him to consecutive terms of 120 months for one count and 68 months for the second count, the maximum penalty in the advisory range.
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
