DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — A Trenton, Ohio man involved in the events that led to the death of Det. Jorge Del Rio was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Wednesday.
Arland Mills, 43, was sentenced to five years in prison for hiring a man to illegally purchase firearms for him
Mills pleaded guilty in federal court in November 2020. He admitted that as part of his scheme, Mills obtained multiple firearms, three of which were later recovered during the execution of a search warrant on Ruskin Road in Dayton. This was where Dayton Police Detective and DEA Task Force Officer Jorge Del Rio was shot on Nov. 4, 2019.
Another Trenton man, 50-year-old Delano Wells, purchased the firearms at a licensed firearms dealer in Middletown on behalf of Mills. Wells was charged by criminal complaint on Nov. 5, 2019, with making false statements on a federal firearms form.
Once Wells purchased the firearms, he gave them to Mills, who would then pay Wells a stipend in addition to the cost of the gun or forgive a portion of the debt owed to him by Wells.
Wells purchased more than eight firearms in this manner on behalf of Mills, along with several firearm lower receivers. Wells was sentenced to six months of home detention and three years of supervised release.
As part of today’s conviction, Mills will forfeit the 28 firearms that the government seized in this case. He was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.
