Rockford Woman Sentenced to Nearly Three Years in Prison for Straw Purchasing Firearms

ROCKFORD — A Rockford woman has been sentenced to thirty-two months in federal prison for straw purchasing five firearms.

JESSICA BARRERA, 56, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a charge of knowingly providing a false and fictitious written statement to a federally licensed firearms dealer.  The statement misrepresented that Barrera was the actual buyer of the firearms, when, in fact, she knew she was not the actual buyer.

Barrera admitted that in 2021 and 2022, she purchased five firearms in four separate transactions for her son, ANGEL BARRERA-ESTEVES, who was legally prohibited from owning a firearm and did not have a valid Firearm Owners Identification.  Barrera completed firearm-transaction records indicating that she was the actual transferee/buyer of the firearms. She then provided the firearms to her son, knowing that he intended to sell the guns to others without a license.  Barrera also purchased firearm ammunition for her son at his direction.

Barrera was sentenced on Monday by U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston in federal court in Rockford.

The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Christopher Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vincenza L. Tomlinson.

Angel Barrera-Esteves, 27, of Rockford, pleaded guilty to federal firearm offenses and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 10, 2025.

Holding illegal firearm possessors accountable through federal prosecution is a centerpiece of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).  In the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Attorney's Office and law enforcement partners have deployed the PSN program to tackle a broad range of violent crime issues facing the district, particularly firearm offenses.