A Chicago man was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for robbing an undercover cop during a firearms exchange.

A Chicago man was sentenced to nearly eight years in federal prison for stealing a machine gun from a cop during an undercover weapons transaction.

According to the US Attorney’s Office, Cortez Price arranged to sell a handgun rigged with a “switch” device to an undercover investigator on May 2, 2022, in a drug store parking lot on Chicago’s South Side’s Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood.

When Price arrived at the meet-up location, he climbed into the front seat of the officer’s car and collected $1,900 in cash from the officer.

Price loaded the gun instead of handing it over. He then exited the vehicle, with the money and the loaded revolver, and fled the scene.

Price was followed by law officers to a nearby location and arrested.

Price previously sold three firearms to the undercover officer and said on social media that he was involved in countless additional conversations to acquire, sell, or arrange the sale of firearms. The “switch” component on Price’s gun during the robbery turned it into a fully automatic machine gun.

Price, 24, pled guilty to federal firearms crimes earlier this year. Following a hearing in federal court in Chicago on Wednesday, a federal judge issued a 93-month prison sentence.

“By individually participating in violent armed conduct and trafficking firearms to others, defendant became part of one of the district’s most pressing crime problems,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Hayes wrote in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “The toll that gun violence inflicts on individuals and neighborhoods in Chicago is inescapable to anyone residing in this district.”

The Department of Justice’s Chicago Guns Trafficking Strike Force is dedicated to putting an end to unlawful firearms trafficking. As part of the strike force, the U.S. Attorney’s Office works with the ATF, the Chicago Police Department, and other federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in the Northern District of Illinois and across the country to help stop the flow of illegally trafficked firearms and identify patterns, leads, and potential suspects in violent gun crimes.