CHICAGO—Nearly five years after she was caught with a gun near a freshly looted store in downtown Chicago during the George Floyd riots, a woman has been given a 366-day federal prison sentence. Amber Petzer, 32, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, ending the case that began when CPD officers arrested her on May 31, 2020, in the South Loop.
Rioting and looting tore the city apart, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot had implemented a 9 p.m. curfew as authorities tried to regain some semblance of control.
Officers patrolling downtown spotted Peltzer standing outside a looted business near State and 16th streets around 12:35 p.m., officials said. Prosecutors said police believed she was trying to break into the store and claimed she had “over $5,000 worth of stolen jewelry with tags on it at the time of her arrest.” But her lawyer disputed that, saying the jewelry was in a car she had occupied, and there was no evidence it had been stolen.
Regardless, there is no longer any dispute that Peltzer had a 9-millimeter pistol. State prosecutors quickly filed charges against her and the FBI took the case within a month. They charged her with being a felon in possession of a firearm, a charge based on her being convicted of aggravated robbery in Will County in 2014 and given a five-year prison sentence.
Prosecutors asked Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer to sentence Peltzer to 70 months in prison. However, Peltzer’s attorney strongly opposed this, recommending five years of probation with no prison time.
The lawyer pointed out that Peltzer had been on bail for more than four years without any problems. In a memorandum to the judge, the lawyer wrote that Peltzer “was able to turn her life around.”
He described horrible, violent experiences that Peltzer suffered earlier in her life, atrocities that continue to affect her to this day. But since being arrested, she has “achieved sobriety, obtained employment, addressed her mental health issues and earned enough to send her son to a Catholic high school,” the attorney’s memo said.
Pallmeyer ordered Peltzer to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service by March 14 to begin her year-long prison sentence.
Original reporting you won’t see anywhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
