Week In Review – Hammond

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

PLEAS:

Ronier Scott, 42, of Gary, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge John E. Martin to the felony offense of willful failure to file a federal tax return.Magistrate Martin is recommending that the district court accept the tendered guilty plea.Parties have 10 days in which to object to the magistrate judge’s recommendation. Sentencing has been set for 4/1/14.This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Bell.

Jermel Washington, 37, of Gary, Indiana, pled guilty before District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen to the felony offense of possession of a non- registered firearm.Sentencing has been set for 4/30/14.This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Gary Police Department.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas McGrath.

Paul Robinson, 23, of Gary, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry to the felony offense of distribution of heroin.Magistrate Cherry is recommending that the district court accept the tendered guilty plea.Parties have 10 days in which to object to the magistrate judge’s recommendation. 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.

Alejandro Murillo, 26, of Chicago, Illinois, pled guilty before Chief Judge Philip Simon to the felony offense of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration HIDTA Task Force.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dean Lanter.

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:

David Johnson, 58, of Munster, Indiana, was sentenced by Chief Judge Philip Simon to 1 year and 1 day of imprisonment, 1 year of supervised release and a fine of $6000.00 after pleading guilty to the felony offense of payment of a bribe to an agent of a local government receiving federal funds.According to documents filed in this case, Johnson, owner of Dave’s Tree Service, made a series of payments to Hammond City Councilman Alfonso Salinas in order to secure future business from the city.Hammond’s records confirmed that the city had paid Dave’s Tree Service more than $300,000 during a roughly two year period, and that Salinas had authorized most of the work. During an interview with IRS agents, Johnson admitted bribing Salinas. This case was a result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service.This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Bell.

Sonyinee Davis-Pope, 39, of Hammond, Indiana, was sentenced by District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen to 3 years of probation after pleading guilty to the felony offense of making false statements to the United States Postal Service.According to documents filed in this case, Pope admitted that she submitted on-line employment applications to the United States Postal Service. In each application, she made a false statement or representation by either using a false name, false date of birth, false social security number, or by failing to disclose that she had prior felony convictions. She submitted the false applications in order to pass the pre-employment background check. In all, she submitted over 50 on-line employment applications to the United States Postal Service between July 2010 and February 2011 for employment in Northwest Indiana, Illinois, and Alabama. This case was a result of an investigation by United States Postal Service-Office of the Inspector General.This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Toi Houston.

Stacy Davis, 46, of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced by Senior District Judge Rudy Lozano to 51 months imprisonment and 2 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of the bank robbery of Chase Bank in Merrillville, Indiana.This case was a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation GRIT Task Force.This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jacqueline Jacobs and Jennifer Chang-Adiga.

Eugene Wilson, 57, of Merrillville, Indiana, was sentenced by Senior District Judge Rudy Lozano to 42 months imprisonment, $1,696,919.45 in restitution and 1 year of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of wire fraud.According to documents filed in this case, Wilson participated in a scheme to defraud and obtain money from three groups of investors by making false statements. In 2006, in separate transactions, Wilson convinced investors to give him money, collectively more than 1.5 million dollars. As inducements, he promised to pay a high rate of return and return the money in a short time period.He also told the investors that their money, or most of it, would remain in a bank account. After receiving the money from the investors, Wilson sent almost all of it to individuals who were in Europe, and spent the remaining money. Wilson acknowledged that on October 25, 2006, he visited a Bank of America branch in Chicago and directed the bank to wire transfer $470,000 in one transaction, and $30,000 in another, to a bank account located in the country of Liechtenstein. When an investor provided him with $600,000, Wilson told him that his money was safe and most of it would remain in a bank account for ten days. He did not return any money to this investor. This case was a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Bell.