A Memphis man has been handcuffed with a 46-month federal prison sentence for hoarding hot goods ripped from a semi-trailer. The perp, Andre Treadwell, 32, was caught with a stash of swiped DuroMax Dual Fuel generators, part of a payload lifted while parked overnight in Memphis, coming from Ontario, Canada, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The caper unfurled on May 5, 2022, when Memphis's finest were waved down by a trucker and his better half, raising the alarm of a breached haul. While checking on suspicious rumblings in the trailer, a gunshot pierced the calm, and the couple discovered the generators’ absence; from there, the law tracked down the purloined product to Treadwell's hideout, uncovering the generators alongside bolt cutters, an illicit AR-15 rifle, a smattering of live rounds, and several bottles of Jimador Tequila pilfered from a separate score.

After confessing to the theft and the hot firearm, Treadwell, a convicted felon with no business clutching a gun, got served his sentence on May 3, 2024 by District Judge Thomas L. Parker, followed by three years’ supervised release—parole isn’t an option in Uncle Sam's house.

The bust was thanks to the keen sleuthing of the Memphis Cargo Theft Task Force, a band of agents from various outfits assembled by the FBI back in 2008 to plug the spread of cargo heists in Shelby County, with a little help from their buddies at the Memphis Police Department; kudos came in from U.S. Attorney Ritz, tipping his hat to the Assistant U.S. Attorney Eileen Kuo who quarterbacked the prosecution and the officers who shackled Treadwell’s spree.