Indianapolis Man Sentenced to 27 Months in Prison

HAMMOND- James Winbush IV, 26 years old, of Indianapolis, Indiana, was sentenced by United States District Court Senior Judge James T. Moody on his plea of guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.

Winbush was sentenced to 27 months in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release.

According to documents in the case, on August 9, 2021, law enforcement in Merrillville, Indiana stopped a vehicle for speeding.  During a search of the vehicle, an officer recovered a .40 caliber pistol loaded with an extended magazine, which Winbush admitted to possessing.  Winbush’s criminal history revealed he has a prior felony conviction in Lake County, Indiana for burglary, and as such, he was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives/ Indiana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force with the assistance of the Merrillville Police Department.   This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicholas J. Padilla.      

This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.