Skip to main content
Press Release

Week In Review – Hammond

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Indiana


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: Mary Hatton

www.usdoj.gov/usao/inn/ CELL: (219) 314-9993

mary.hatton@usdoj.gov

Hammond, Indiana - The United States Attorney’s Office announced the following activity in Federal Court:

PLEAS:

Brittini Anderson, 27, of Gary, Indiana, pled guilty before Chief Judge Philip Simon to the felony offense of making false statements in the acquisition of a firearm.Sentencing has been set for 11/15/13.This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicholas Padilla.

Danilo Danti, 60, of Highland Park, Illinois, pled guilty before Chief Judge Philip Simon to the felony offense of transportation of stolen goods.Sentencing has been set for 11/15/13.This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the United States Secret Service.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Randall Stewart.

Kevin Paul Brewster, 41, of Portage, Indiana, pled guilty before District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen to the felony offenses of production of child pornography, receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.Sentencing has been set for 10/31/13.This case resulted from an investigation by members of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Portage Police Department.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jill Koster.

If convicted in court, any specific sentence to be imposed will be determined by the judge after a consideration of federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

DISPOSITIONS:

Alfonso Salinas, 53, of Hammond, Indiana, was sentenced by Chief Judge Philip Simon to 42 months imprisonment and 1 year of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offenses of receipt of a bribe by an agent of a local government receiving federal funds and failure to file a federal tax return.According to documents filed in this case, Salinas, an elected Hammond City Councilman at the time, readily accepted $10,500.00 from co-defendant David Johnson, to be influenced. Salinas corruptly accepted 10 checks during a 21 month period. During a 10 year time period (and overlapping the bribe payments), Salinas failed to file nine federal tax returns or pay any of the over $45,000.00 in taxes owed. Salinas also took in campaign contributions and deposited the money in his personal account.These contributions never appeared on campaign contribution account reports filed with the Board of Elections. This case was the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service.This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Bell.

Shana King, 23, of Gary, Indiana, and Alnese Frazier, 27, of Indianapolis, Indiana, defendants in the case US v Harris et al., were sentenced by Chief Judge Philip Simon to 1 day, time served, after pleading guilty to the felony offense of conspiracy and attempt to commit fraud with identification documents.King was ordered to pay $27,061.59 in restitution and 2 years of supervised release.Frazier was ordered to pay $38,500.00 in restitution and 4 years of supervised release.The restitution amounts are to be paid jointly with all co-defendants in this case.According to documents filed in this case, the defendants obtained the account and personal information of individuals in over 21 states and fraudulently added their names to the victims’ accounts in an account takeover scheme. The defendants either utilized their own names or utilized aliases with the accounts which had been taken over. They purchased gift cards, Postal money orders, and made numerous retail purchases with the fraudulently obtained credit cards throughout Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Georgia. They also made cash withdrawals on the accounts and utilized the convenience checks associated with the accounts at various financial institutions located in Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Georgia. Throughout the criminal conduct, the defendants would also mail gift cards, Postal money orders, and U.S. currency from Indiana and Wisconsin to Georgia.This case was the result of an investigation by the United States Postal Service-Office of the Inspector General.This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Toi Houston.

Justin Tiggs, 29, of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced by District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen to 77 months imprisonment and 3 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of possession of ammunition by a convicted felon.Tiggs has prior felony convictions for aggravated use of a weapon by a felon, possession of a controlled substance and escape.This case was the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas McGrath.

Updated April 30, 2015