Week In Review – Hammond

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: Mary Hatton

www.usdoj.gov/usao/inn/ mary.hatton@usdoj.gov

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

INDICTMENT:

Rebhi Mohammad, 59, Ola Mohammad, 32, and Abdkdar Mohammad, 28, of Chicago, Illinois, were charged in a Superceding Indictment with conspiracy to defraud the USDA “SNAP” program (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance) and wire fraud by claiming that they and the business known as Moses Foods were legitimately entitled to reimbursements when in fact they were trading cash and ineligible items for SNAP benefit redemptions.These charges were filed as the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of Agriculture Office of the Inspector General.This case has been assigned to and will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Diane Berkowitz.

PLEAS:

Dwayne Crawford, 40, of Merrillville, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Andrew Rodovich to the felony offense of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana, possession with intent to distribute and distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and engaging in a monetary transaction with criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000 .Magistrate Rodovich is recommending that the district court accept the tendered guilty plea.Parties have 10 days in which to object to the magistrate judge’s recommendation. Sentencing has been set for 5/17/13.These charges were filed as a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation GRIT Task Force.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jacqueline Jacobs.

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:

Miguel Chavez, 46, of Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced by District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen to 41 months imprisonment and 3 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of possession with the intent to distribute 500 grams of more of methamphetamine.This case was the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Kolar.