Quincy woman pleads guilty to five charges, faces up to 10 years in prison

Published 12:27 pm Friday, June 26, 2026

QUINCY — A Quincy woman pleaded guilty Friday to five out of seven charges filed in three separate cases as part of a deal to limit the time she will spend in prison.

Shelby Wires, 34, pleaded guilty to three separate counts of being a felon in possession of a weapon or ammunition, a Class 3 felony with up to 10 years in prison possible for each charge. I addition, she pleaded guilty to one count of aiding a fugitive and one count of obstruction of justice, both Class 4 felonies punishable by up to six years in prison under the state’s extended-term sentencing guidelines.

Rather than the possibility of more than four decades in prison, Wires agreed to plead guilty with a sentencing cap of two to 10 years as part of the deal.

Police responding to a disturbance call in early February found Wires in a vehicle with Kimberly Brown. According to Assistant Adams County State’s Attorney Laura Keck, when officers searched the vehicle, they found a Smith & Wesson .380 handgun that Wires told them belonged to her.

On Feb. 17, following the shooting death of Damien C. Gardner, law enforcement obtained a warrant for the arrest of Steven Mosley. Keck told the court on Friday that Mosley was found at Wires’ residence where he had reportedly told her that he shot Gardner, and that social media had reported that he was wanted, meaning that Wires knew she was aiding Mosley as a fugitive.

Keck also told the court that Wires, along with Brown, took Mosley cellphone and threw it in the river to try and keep it from being accessed for evidence against Mosley, leading to the obstruction charge.

Following the arrests of Mosley, Wires, and Brown, law enforcement searched the residence and found a box of ammunition, leading to the second felon in possession of a weapon charge.

In the final case, during follow-up investigations into the Gardner shooting, law enforcement found that Wires had hidden a plastic ammunition box in a different residence. That box contained .22 caliber ammunition, the same as the type used to kill Gardner.

Keck said the crime lab of the Illinois State Police verified through DNA evidence that Wires had handled that ammunition box over any other possible suspects.

As part of Wires’ agreement, a charge of domestic battery against Kimberly Brown stemming from the first case was dropped, as was one count of violating a pretrial condition that was filed since Brown was in the residence at the time of the Mosley arrest, a violation of the conditions of release imposed on Wires in that earlier case.

If the case had proceeded to trial and Wires had been found guilty, she could have faced as much as 42 years in prison if the maximum sentences had been imposed on the five charges she pleaded guilty to. With the plea deal in place, Brenner will determine the length of sentence to impose within the agreed cap range.

Earlier this month, Mosley pleaded guilty to the murder of Gardner and was sentenced to 30 years in prison to be served at 100% other than credit for time served as part of a deal. Wires was set to testify in any trial against Mosley.

The plea deal for Wires was first presented to the court at a hearing earlier this week. At that hearing, Public Defender Zachary Clark told Judge Tad Brenner that Wires had tentatively agreed to a plea deal with the state’s attorney’s office that would have a sentencing cap of between two and 10 years in prison.

Brenner offered to finalize the deal at the hearing, but Assistant State’s Attorney Drew Erwin asked for a short continuation to ensure that all of the open cases would be wrapped up as part of the plea agreement.

After Brenner accepted the guilty pleas and gave tentative agreement to the deal, he said a sentencing hearing for Aug. 17 to allow time for a pre-sentence investigation to be completed and a report filed to the court.