Chicago, Illinois Man Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison

SOUTH BEND – David Gibson, 48, of Chicago, Illinois was sentenced before South Bend District Court Judge Jon E. DeGuilio for conspiracy to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin, announced U.S. Attorney Kirsch.

Mr. Gibson was sentenced to 240 months in prison (to be served consecutively to a 12 year federal sentence in Wyoming) followed by 10 years of supervised release. 

On September 20, 2019, Mr. Gibson and his co-defendant, Mr Harris were found guilty of conspiracy to distribute over a kilogram of heroin after a 4-day jury trial.  According to evidence presented at trial, Mr. Gibson conspired with others to sell heroin in and around South Bend.  The conspirators shared a cellphone that customers called to arrange purchases of heroin.  The evidence showed that undercover law enforcement officers purchased heroin from members of the conspiracy on 28 separate occasions between March and October of 2017.  Phone records showed that the shared cellphones had over 80,000 contacts during the time of the conspiracy.  Mr. Gibson directed the sales conducted by those who sold heroin to the undercover officers.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives with the assistance from several local police agencies including the St. Joseph County Drug Investigation Unit, Indiana State Police, South Bend Police Department, Mishawaka Police Department, the Elkhart Police Department, the Interdiction and Covert Enforcement (ICE) Unit consisting of Elkhart County and Goshen Officers , the St. Joseph County Police Department and the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office.  The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joel Gabrielse and Molly Donnelly.

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