United States Attorney David Capp

Northern District of Indiana

5400 Federal Plaza, Suite 1500

Hammond, Indiana 46320

Hammond South Bend Fort Wayne

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mary Hatton

January 25, 2013 PHONE: (219) 937-5603

www.usdoj.gov/usao/inn/ FAX (219) 852-2770

WEEK IN REVIEW – HAMMOND

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

DISPOSITIONS:

Ø Phillip Rucker, 42, of Gary, Indiana, a defendant in the case US v Haymon et al., was sentenced by Senior District Judge Rudy Lozano to 30 months imprisonment, restitution of $73,488.95 and 1 year of supervised release after being found guilty at trial of the felony offense of wire fraud. Rucker participated in a scheme to defraud lenders and others by providing false information on loan applications and HUD-1 settlement statements and by recruiting individuals to purchase real estate in Gary, Indiana on behalf of Jerry Haymon. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Bell.

Ø Christopher Bunch, 54, of Battleground, Indiana, was sentenced by Senior District Judge Rudy Lozano to 408 months imprisonment and 20 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of inducing minor children to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct. According to documents filed in this case, law enforcement was dispatched to investigate a complaint of possible child pornography found at a residence shared with Bunch. A roommate reported that she found images depicting child pornography on a camera belonging to Bunch and was able to positively identify a child as a minor female who had previously spent time at the residence. Law enforcement obtained a warrant to search all of the computers, cameras and electronic media belonging to Bunch. The officers found images and videos of 2 minor females engaging in sexually explicit conduct. This case resulted from an investigation by members of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jill Koster.

Ø Edward Kabella, 43, of Crown Point, Indiana, was sentenced by District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen to 24 months imprisonment, restitution of $26,115.74 to the Internal Revenue Service, a $6,000 fine and 1 year of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offenses of conspiracy to provide false information to a Federal Firearms Licensee, conspiracy to defraud the Food and Drug Administration and making a false statement on a tax return. According to documents filed in this case, Kabella used his position as a law enforcement officer with the Lake County Sheriff’s Department to participate in a conspiracy to obtain machineguns and laser sights, restricted firearms. Kabella and his codefendants would then sell them on the internet. This case was the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Defense Criminal Investigation Service. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Philip Benson.

Ø Timmothy Williams, 34, of Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced by Chief Judge Philip Simon to 80 months imprisonment, restitution of $37,340.34 and 3 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offenses of misuse of a Social Security Number, fraud with identification documents and aggravated identity theft. This case was the result of an investigation by the United States Postal Service-Office of the Inspector General and the Internal Revenue Service. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Bell.