KALAMAZOO, MI - Four Kalamazooans are among five men indicted and facing federal charges in connection with an illegal Kalamazoo-to-Chicago gun-buying scheme.

A two-count indictment charging them with conspiring to "straw purchase" handguns in Michigan early this year and re-sell them to men from Chicago was returned on Aug. 31, in federal court in Chicago.

The grand jury indictment was ordered unsealed on Sept. 7.

In a "straw purchase," a person who is prohibited from buying guns uses another person to buy them on his or her behalf.

Federal authorities allege that Kalamazoo residents Cornelius Battle, 23, and Dalrick Drain, 27, falsely certified during gun purchases in Kalamazoo that they were buyers of guns that, in reality, were to being purchased for a Chicago man.

"Battle and Drain purchased the guns on behalf of Nathaniel McElroy, a Chicago resident who identified which firearms he wanted and had paid Battle and Drain a premium over the stores' prices," according to the indictment.

In the first six months of 2017, those three, along with two other Kalamazoo men, Reginald Johnson, 24, and Lashon Moore, 28, are accused of causing at least nine handguns to be purchased in Michigan and transported to Chicago, the indictment states.

In court records, authorities indicated that McElroy and a Chicago man who was not identified, were the recipients of the weapons.

The acts involved in the two-count indictment occurred between Jan. 5 and June 10 and include: conspiring to willfully deal firearms without a license; willfully transferring firearms to non-Michigan residents; knowingly making false statements in connection with the acquisition of a firearm; and willfully dealing firearms without a license.

The indictment describes two purchases that were made from Kalamazoo firearms businesses. On Feb. 28, Drain is charged with illegally buying two guns at the On Target gun shop. On March 30, he is charged with buying two guns from the Dunham's Sports location in Kalamazoo.

The weapons involved included a 9-mm Glock handgun, a .40-cailber Glock handgun, a 9-mm Hi Point handgun, and a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol.

McElroy, 21, was arrested on Aug. 31, according to information provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois. During a detention hearing in federal court in Chicago last week, U.S. Magistrate Susan E. Cox ordered McElroy to be detained in federal custody pending trial. His next court date has not yet been set.

Battle was arrested in Michigan on Sept. 1. During a detention hearing in federal court in Kalamazoo last week, U.S. Magistrate Phillip J. Green ordered him released on home confinement. Green ordered that he must appear in Chicago on a future date to be determined by the court.

Moore is in custody in Michigan on an unrelated state charge. The U.S. Attorney's Office said it will seek his removal to Chicago at a future date.

Arrest warrants have been issued for Dalrick "Duff" Drain, 27, and Reginald "Rico" Johnson, 24, both of Kalamazoo. They were not custody as of Tuesday.

"The United States Attorney's Office is committed to aggressively using federal firearm laws to keep illegal guns off the streets," Joel R. Levin, acting United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, stated in a press release. "We will use whatever federal tools are appropriate to prosecute straw purchasers and hold them accountable for bringing illegal firearms into Chicago."

Levin announced the charges along with Michael J. Anderson, special agent-in-charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.