Willowbrook businessman Terry Ferguson was something of a serial entrepreneur on both sides of the law, prosecutors say.
When the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms opened an investigation into Ferguson in 2015, his Chicago’s Finest Deli On Wheels was doing solid business roaming the Loop at lunchtime. He and his son had plans to open a gaming bar in south suburban Chicago Ridge.
But Ferguson also was doing a brisk trade in stolen goods. He bragged about running an escort service, and he bought and bartered for guns, cocaine, cigarettes, even knock-off outdoor wear.
Investigators also claimed that Ferguson had taken the bulk of $1.2 million that had been paid out to his niece by a Buddhist temple to settle a lawsuit over alleged sexual abuse by a monk.
Ferguson, 58, sat impassively in a courtroom Friday as U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly gave him seven years in prison for selling two dozen stolen guns from the food truck in 2015.
U.S marshals took Ferguson into custody in the courtroom as Ferguson’s family cried in the gallery.
Ferguson’s lawyer, Beau Brindley, had minimized the scale of Ferguson’s “hustles” and alleged that ATF agents and prosecutors had conducted illegal searches, filed false reports and intimidated Ferguson’s family and other witnesses.
ATF agents had a “personal vendetta” against Ferguson, Brindley claimed, citing a stack of affidavits from Ferguson’s family and surveillance camera footage from inside Ferguson’s house.
One ATF report claimed Ferguson had information about “shady” dealings with Brindley himself, allegations that Ferguson denied in a sworn affidavit.
Brindley contended that one ATF agent had tried to bully Ferguson’s niece into testifying that Ferguson made off with more than half of her $1.2 million settlement while she struggled to make payments on her used Kia.
The judge acknowledged there were “damn lies” in reports filed by ATF agents in the case, including accounts of a November 2018 search of Ferguson’s house the day he was arrested that were contradicted by surveillance cameras inside the home.
Kennelly noted that one agent called as a witness this year received the “agent of the year” award from the ATF. The judge appeared disappointed that the apparently false reports and other missteps in the investigation appeared to have no consequences.
“Apparently there is no price to be paid for it, internally or whatever. It’s not my job,” Kennelly said.
Still, the judge said the allegations would not affect the sentence he handed down.
Kennelly noted that Ferguson made a series of deals with an undercover ATF agent that included swapping cigarettes and North Face jackets for cocaine, indicating ready access to large quantities of drugs and the ability to move stolen merchandise with ease.
The seven-year prison term was more than the five-year minimum sentence, but less than the 14 years requested by prosecutors.
“I’m not going to say this is the last time Mr. Ferguson is going to be in courtroom,” Kennelly said. “He committed some serious crimes and he did them willingly.”
Ferguson had pleaded guilty in 2021 but withdrew his plea almost immediately after he was charged with gun counts in Will County. He also faces charges in Wisconsin.
Any sentence handed down in those cases would run concurrent to his federal sentence, Kennelly said.
