Week In Review – South Bend

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

PLEAS:

Michael Spurgeon, 46, of Elkhart, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein to the felony offense of knowingly manufacturing marijuana. Magistrate Nuechterlein is recommending that the district court accept the tendered guilty plea.Parties have 14 days in which to object to the magistrate judge’s recommendation. This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by Drug Enforcement Administration.Sentencing has been set for 2/10/2014.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank Schaffer.

Gary Franklin, 46, of Elkhart, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein to the felony offense of knowingly and intentionally receiving, possessing, concealing, selling, or disposing of stolen vehicles that had crossed state lines after being stolen. Magistrate Nuechterlein is recommending that the district court accept the tendered guilty plea.Parties have 14 days in which to object to the magistrate judge’s recommendation. This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by Drug Enforcement Administration.Sentencing has been set for 2/12/2014.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank Schaffer.
 

Richard Maxson, 26, of Elkhart, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein to the felony offense of knowingly and intentionally receiving, possessing, concealing, selling, or disposing of stolen vehicles that had crossed state lines after being stolen. Magistrate Nuechterlein is recommending that the district court accept the tendered guilty plea.Parties have 14 days in which to object to the magistrate judge’s recommendation. This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by Drug Enforcement Administration.Sentencing has been set for 2/12/2014. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank Schaffer.

Tad Vandermark, 52, of Syracuse, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein to the felony offense of production of child pornography. Magistrate Nuechterlein is recommending that the district court accept the tendered guilty plea.Parties have 14 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.Sentencing has been set for 2/6/2014.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Maciejczyk.

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:

Paul Page, 49, of Indianapolis, Indiana, a defendant in the case US V Bales et al., was sentenced by District Judge Robert L. Miller Jr to 2 years’ probation and to pay $10,000 in fines after pleading guilty to the felony offense of scheming to commit wire fraud.According to documents filed in this case, Page devised a scheme to defraud a bank.When Page learned he needed to make a significant down payment to get a mortgage on a building he intended to buy and rent out to the State of Indiana, another person loaned him the money. Mr. Page promised to repay the loan out of the proceeds when he sold the building. Page knew that banks would require a disclosure of competing loans on a piece of property, and knew how to avoid disclosing this information to the bank. Page “spun” the ownership issue with the bank, and then signed false documents and false certifications.Page failed to inform the bank that a third party had loaned him the down payment in papers Page completed for the mortgage loan. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jesse Barrett.

Thomas Touhey, 56, of Walkerton, Indiana was sentenced by District Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr. to 20 months imprisonment and 1 year of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of unlawful transport of firearms.According to documents filed in this case, law enforcement was investigating complaints of drug trafficking from Touhey’s home as well as two active warrants for Touhey’s failure to register as a sex offender. Officers discovered marijuana and related paraphernalia.Officers also found a loaded shotgun on the premises. Touhey has a prior felony conviction for child molestation. 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 John Maciejczyk.