Week In Review – Hammond

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

PLEAS

• Laquintin Abbey, 26, of East Chicago, Indiana pled guilty to the felony offense of making a false statement to a licensed firearms dealer in acquisition of a firearm. This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  Sentencing has been set for 01/13/2015.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tom McGrath.

• Nyega Shaqoi Host, 44, of Gary, Indiana pled guilty to the felony offense of being a felon in possession of firearms. This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Sentencing has not been set.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tom McGrath.

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

• Robert Lemon, 49, of Chicago, Illinois was sentenced to 15 months of imprisonment,  2 years of supervised release and over to pay $191,449.47 in restitution after pleading guilty to the felony offense of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.  According to documents filed in this case, between December 2005 and July 2009, multiple defendants were involved in an insurance fraud scheme wherein they staged automobile accidents in Northwest Indiana and Chicago which resulted in claims and other documents being sent through the United States Mail.  Lemon was identified as one of the leaders in the staged automobile accidents which resulted in losses to several insurance companies. This case was the result of an investigation by U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Toi Houston.

• Dwayne Ashford, 53, of Michigan City, Indiana was sentenced to sentenced to 24 months imprisonment, 2 years of supervised release and to pay $191,449.47 in restitution after pleading guilty to the felony offenses of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud.  According to documents filed in this case, between December 2005 and July 2009, multiple defendants were involved in an insurance fraud scheme wherein they staged automobile accidents in Northwest Indiana and Chicago which resulted in claims and other documents being sent through the United States Mail.  Ashford was identified as one of the leaders in the staged automobile accidents which resulted in losses to several insurance companies. This case was the result of an investigation by U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Toi Houston.

• Dewayne Hutton, 45, of Merrillville, Indiana was sentenced to three-year term of probation, to include 12 months home detention, after pleading guilty to the felony offense of distribution of crack cocaine.  According to documents filed in this case, between November 2011 and January 2012, the FBI utilized a confidential source to purchase crack cocaine and powder cocaine from Hutton in Hammond. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Chang-Adiga.

• Jose Montoya, 41, of Summit, Illinois was sentenced to 121 months of imprisonment and ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to the felony offense of kidnaping.  According to documents filed in this case, Montoya was involved in a kidnapping that occurred from on or January 14, 2011 to on or about January 18, 2011.  This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nick Padilla.
  
• Eugene Clarke, Jr., a/k/a Imhotep Bey, 64, of Gary, Indiana was sentenced to 41 months imprisonment and ordered to repay $900,000 to the Internal Revenue Service after being convicted by a jury of 7 counts of filing a false claim against the government.  Clarke represented himself as the fiduciary of a non-existent trust and filed 7 tax returns, each falsely claiming the trust was entitled to a refund of $300,000. The claims were entirely unsubstantiated.  Four of the seven returns Clarke filed were deemed frivolous by the Internal Revenue Service and not processed.  Three of the fraudulent were processed resulting in a total payment to Clarke of $900,000.  This case was the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jacqueline Jacobs and Nick Padilla.         

• Rolando Luis Diaz, 32, of Whiting, Indiana was sentenced to 51 months of imprisonment after pleading guilty to the felony offense of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.  This 51 month federal sentence was ordered to be served in the following fashion:  20 months of the sentence will run concurrently to any undischarged term of imprisonment imposed in Lake County, Indiana in case number 45G01-1110-FA-00049, and the remaining 31 months to run consecutively to that state court case sentence.  According to documents filed in this case, on September 11, 2011, he knowingly possessed in and affecting commerce a firearm after being convicted of a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding 1 year. This case was the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicholas Padilla.

• Sandra McGuire, 51, of Gary was convicted of money laundering and sentenced to 1 year of probation to be served on home detention.  McGuire, an 18-year employee of the Gary Fire Department, helped a Gary based, drug trafficking organization hide proceeds from the distribution of marijuana and cocaine.  McGuire laundered thousands of dollars by running cash proceeds through her bank account, enabling the drug traffickers to legitimize cash and avoid detection by law enforcement.  This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jacqueline Jacobs.