A south-central Illinois teenaged parolee faces up to two decades in federal prison after admitting in court he helped steal assault-style rifles and other firearms from a store in what authorities say was his plot to sell them to protesters in Ferguson, Missouri.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 19-year-old Dakota Moss of Centralia pleaded guilty Wednesday in East St. Louis to five felony counts, most of them gun-related.
Authorities say Moss played a role in stealing the firearms and 1,000 rounds of ammunition during a November burglary of a Centralia store.
The break-in came days after sometimes-violent protests resurfaced in Ferguson after a grand jury decided not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson in the August shooting death of black, unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown.