Week In Review - Hammond

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

PLEAS:

• Michael Nash, 39, of Lake Station, Indiana, pled guilty before Chief Judge Philip Simon to the felony offense of conspiracy to defraud the United States with respect to claims (i.e. preparing tax returns known to be false so as to increase the refund amount) and aggravated identity theft.  Sentencing has been set for 10/16/14.  This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Kolar.

• Chauncey Hackett, Jr., 23, of East Chicago, Indiana, pled guilty before Chief Judge Philip Simon to the felony offense of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  Sentencing has been set for 9/3/14.  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 Dean Lanter.

• Otis Irvin, Jr., 40, of Gary, Indiana, pled guilty before Chief Judge Philip Simon to the felony offense of distribution of crack cocaine.  This charge was 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 Dean Lanter.

• John Lytle, 37, of Gary, Indiana, pled guilty before Senior District Judge James Moody to the felony offenses of distribution of crack cocaine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas McGrath.

• Robert Lemon, 49, of Michigan City, Indiana, pled guilty before District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen to the felony offense of mail fraud.  Sentencing has been set for 8/27/14.  This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Toi Houston.
  

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:

• Andrew Bolden, 30, of Hammond, Indiana, was sentenced by Chief Judge Philip Simon to 30 months of imprisonment and 2 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  This case was a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Nozick.

• Keyosha Toney, 26, of East Chicago, Indiana, was sentenced by Senior District Judge James Moody 1 year of probation to include 8 months of home detention after pleading guilty to the felony offense of making false statements in the purchase of a firearm.  According to documents filed in this case, Toney straw-purchased three firearms for another individual whom she knew dealt marijuana. She purchased two additional firearms for herself and lied about her residence address. Finally, Toney purchased all of the firearms while an unlawful user of marijuana and was untruthful about her marijuana use on the forms for purchasing the firearms as well. This case was a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dean Lanter.

• Thomas Grad, 57, of Frankfort, Illinois, was sentenced by Senior District Judge James Moody to 1 year of probation and a fine of $1000.00 after pleading guilty to the felony offense of knowingly operating a source in violation of a pretreatment standard (Clean Water Act), that is, he caused to be introduced, hauled and trucked pollutants into a publicly owned treatment works operated by the Hammond Sanitary District. Grad was the Operations Manager at Tierra Environmental & Industrial Services, Inc. This case was a result of an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency-Criminal Investigations and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management Criminal Enforcement.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Toi Houston.

• Joiey Jones, 36, of East Chicago, Indiana, was sentenced by Chief Judge Philip Simon to 12 months and 1 day imprisonment and 2 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.  Jones has a prior felony conviction for possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine. This case was a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the East Chicago Police Department.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas McGrath.