Guilty Pleas in Grampa’s Gunshop Burglary

Madison, Wis. — John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Darren Richardson, 20, Chicago, pleaded guilty yesterday, and Daniel Barlow, 23, Madison, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Madison to stealing 20 firearms from Grampa’s Gun Shop,

1374 Williamson Street, Madison

, on March 13, 2010.

On March 13, two men, one of whom was later identified as Richardson, forcibly entered Grampa’s Gun Shop and forced the owner into a bathroom. The robbers bound the owner’s ankles and wrists with duct tape and made verbal threats. One robber watched the victim owner while the other placed the firearms in a duffel bag. Barlow acted as the getaway driver, and he subsequently drove to Minnesota and sold one of the stolen firearms to a friend. This firearm was recovered and Barlow’s friend implicated Barlow and helped police identify Richardson as a suspect. Additional investigation established probable cause for a search warrant for Richardson’s DNA.

The Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory was able to isolate DNA from the duct tape used to bound the victim’s ankles and wrists and compare it to Richardson’s DNA. The crime lab determined that Richardson was a major contributor to the DNA on the duct tape and that the probability of randomly selecting an individual that could have contributed to this DNA mixture was 1 in 14 million. When Richardson was arrested, he admitted his role in the offense.

In addition to the firearm that was recovered in Minnesota, four more have been recovered in the Chicago area.

U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb scheduled Richardson’s sentencing for December 17, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. Barlow’s sentencing is scheduled for December 7, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. They both face a maximum penalty of ten years in prison.

The charges against Richardson and Barlow were the result of an investigation conducted by the Madison Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rita M. Rumbelow.

This article was sponsored by Police Books.