Indictments Returned in Hammond Federal Court

HAMMOND, IN—The United States Attorney’s Office announced that the following indictments were returned on March 21, 2012:

Jerry Reeves, 43, of Gary, Indiana, was charged in an indictment with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Reeves has prior felony convictions for dealing in cocaine in 1991 and domestic battery in 2008. These charges were filed as the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Gary Police Department. This case has been assigned to and will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicholas Padilla and Special Assistant United States Attorney Armando Salinas, Jr.

Robert Rivers, 44, of Flora, Indiana, was charged in an indictment with three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Rivers has prior felony convictions for burglary, theft, operating a vehicle after lifetime suspensions in 1994; intimidation, invasion of privacy, receiving stolen property, operating a vehicle after lifetime suspension in 2002; and invasion of privacy in 2003. These charges were filed as the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Flora Police Department; the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department; the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Department; and the Lafayette Police Department. This case has been assigned to and will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dean Lanter.

Phillip Ramos, II, 24, of East Chicago, Indiana, was charged in an indictment with possession with the intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana and use of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. These charges were filed as the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. This case has been assigned to and will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Nozick.

Earl Russell Idle, 63, of Lafayette, Indiana, was charged in an indictment with attempted production of child pornography and distribution of child pornography. This case resulted from an investigation by members of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including the U.S. Immigration and Custom Office of Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Kokomo Police Department, and the Highland Police Department. This case has been assigned to and will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jill Koster.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The specific sentence in each case to be imposed upon conviction will be determined by the judge after a consideration of federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The United States Attorney’s Office emphasized that an indictment is merely an allegation and that all persons charged are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.