Week In Review – South Bend

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: Mary Hatton

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

mary.hatton@usdoj.gov

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

PLEAS:

Damar S. Howell, 38, of Michigan City, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Christopher Nuechterlein to the felony offense of knowingly possessing a firearm in and affecting interstate or foreign commerce. Magistrate Nuechterlein 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 9/4/2013 09:00 AM in US District Court - South Bend before Judge Robert L Miller Jr. 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 Frank Schaffer.

Miguel Perez, 44, of South Bend, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Christopher Nuechterlein to the felony offense of knowingly distributing cocaine. Magistrate Nuechterlein 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. This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency. Sentencing has been set for 9/4/2013 01:00 PM in US District Court - South Bend before Judge Robert L Miller Jr. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney William Grimmer.

Christina Glen, 43, of La Porte, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Christopher Nuechterlein to the felony offense of theft of government property. Magistrate Nuechterlein 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. This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the Department of Labor. Sentencing has been set for 9/5/2013 01:00 PM in US District Court - South Bend before Judge Robert L Miller Jr. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Barbara Brook.

Pedro Caldera-Pacheco, 41, of South Bend, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Christopher Nuechterlein to the felony offense of knowingly possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. Magistrate Nuechterlein 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. This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency. Sentencing has been set for 9/4/2013 09:00 AM in US District Court - South Bend before Judge Robert L Miller Jr. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney William Grimmer.

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:

Keith Galassi, 33, of Michigan City, Indiana, was sentenced by Judge Robert L Miller, Jr. to serve 3 years of probation with $19,110 in restitution after pleading guilty to the felony offense of theft of government property. This case was the result of an investigation by the Department of Labor. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Barbara Brook.

David J. Oldham, 43, of La Porte, Indiana, was sentenced by Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr. to serve 27 months imprisonment and 3 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of destruction of digital images and videos containing child pornography with the intent to impair their integrity or availability for official proceedings. According to documents filed in this case, Oldham reinstalled the operating system software on his computer in order to destroy evidence of child pornography. Law enforcement computer forensic officials were still able to recover 73 images and 7 movie file fragments which were child pornography from Oldham’s computer. This case resulted from an investigation by members of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including the United States Secret Service and the Indiana State Police. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Maciejczyk.

Laef Wade, 40, of Macy, Indiana, was sentenced by Judge Robert L Miller, Jr. to 37 months imprisonment and 1 year of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of knowingly using a communication facility in causing or facilitating another felony. This case was the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank Schaffer.