Deli truck owner pleads guilty to drug, gun charges

The onetime manager of Chicago’s Finest Deli on Wheels LLC became the last of three people caught up in a years-long drug and gun investigation to plead guilty in the case Friday.

Terry Ferguson, 56, of Willowbrook, admitted during a virtual hearing that he distributed 1.5 kilograms of cocaine in 2016 and 2018 and illegally possessed 23 firearms in 2015.

Ferguson’s co-defendant, Jesus Dominguez, had negotiated the sale of those firearms to an undercover ATF agent, but he stored and moved them in a deli truck owned by Ferguson, who got a cut of the deal, according to Ferguson’s plea agreement.

Ferguson knew how Dominguez was using the truck and maintained his ability to control it and the firearms despite a January 1997 drug conviction, according to the plea deal.

Dominguez pleaded guilty in November to a drug conspiracy and illegal gun possession, records show. Another defendant in the case, William Walsh, pleaded guilty that same month to the drug conspiracy.

Ferguson faces a potential sentence of as many as 10 years in prison, according to his plea agreement. He has also pleaded guilty in a related case to obstructing a court order for telling someone subpoenaed by the grand jury investigating Ferguson that the person would go to jail if he went to court. For that, Ferguson could face another year in prison.

Dominguez faces a potential sentence of more than eight years, though prosecutors have said they would recommend he get a break if he cooperates with them. Walsh faces a potential sentence of more than two years.