Week in Review—Hammond

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

Pleas:

• Alexander Torres Rivera, 37, of Gary, Indiana, pled guilty before Judge Rudy Lozano to the felony offense of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. According to his plea agreement Rivera has a prior conviction for delivery of a controlled substance in 1998. These charges were filed as a result of an investigation by the by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dean Lanter.
• Cynthia Ceaser, 49, of Gary, Indiana, pled guilty before Senior Judge James Moody to the felony offense of theft of government property. These charges were filed as a result of an investigation by the Social Security Administration. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Bell.
• Roy Cast, III, 30, of Gary, Indiana, pled guilty before Senior Judge James Moody to the felony offense of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. Cast has a prior conviction for attempted robbery in 2001. These charges were filed as a result of an investigation by the by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives HIDTA Task Force. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicholas Padilla.

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:

• Darren Dunham, 47, of Kokomo, Indiana, was sentenced by Chief Judge Philip Simon to 120 months’ imprisonment and one year of supervised release after pleading guilty to five counts of the felony offense of assisting another in filing false tax returns. According to the Sentencing Memorandum filed by the government in this case, Dunham solicited tax clients who would allow him to prepare tax returns for them. Dunham filed 204 false tax returns in that they represented that the taxpayers earned sufficient income to qualify for refunds when, in fact, he knew that they did not and were not entitled to refunds in the claimed amounts, stealing almost one million dollars from the federal treasury. He was also caught filing more false tax returns after pleading guilty in this case. This case was the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Bell.
• Sergio Gonzalez, of Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced by Senior Judge James Moody to 87 months’ imprisonment and two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. This case was the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Kolar.
• Joshua Wampler, 36, of Michigan City, Indiana, a defendant in the case U.S. v Zitt et al., was sentenced by Judge Rudy Lozano to 151 months’ imprisonment and five years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute heroin. This case was the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Porter County Drug Task Force, the Michigan City Police Department, the Indiana State Police, and the LaPorte Metro Operations Drug Task Force. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney.
• Armando Vera, 56, of East Chicago, Indiana, was sentenced by Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen to 57 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of possession with the intent to distribute marijuana. According to the complaint affidavit filed in this case, as the result of an ongoing criminal narcotics investigation, a search was conducted at Vera’s residence where they found a safe containing approximately $90,000, approximately 80 pounds of marijuana, and a firearm. Vera has prior convictions for possession with the intent to distribute marijuana and voter fraud. This case was the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the East Chicago Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Nozick.
• Dan Adams, 37, of East Chicago, Indiana, was sentenced by Chief Judge Philip Simon to 78 months’ imprisonment and two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Adams has prior convictions for criminal recklessness and residential entry and intimidation. This case was the result of an investigation by the by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the East Chicago Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Kolar.
• Fletcher Peterson, 66, of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced by Senior Judge James Moody to three years of probation, to include 12 months of home detention, and restitution of $103,582.50 to the Social Security Administration after pleading guilty to the felony offense of theft of government property. According to the sentencing memorandum filed by the government in this case, Peterson obtained an identification card in the name of Fletcher Dix, a non-existent person, and worked under that name while collecting disability benefits in his own name. This case was the result of an investigation by the Social Security Administration. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Bell.
• Latoya Travis, 40, of Hammond, Indiana, was sentenced by Judge Rudy Lozano to 15 months’ imprisonment and one year of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of failure to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons for service of sentence. Travis was convicted of aggravated identity theft and making false statements on a loan application in and sentenced to 42 months of imprisonment in January 2011. The 15 month sentence for failure to appear will run consecutively for a total of 57 months’ imprisonment. This case was the result of an investigation by the United States Marshals Service. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Bell.
• Brandon Patterson, 29, of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced by Judge Rudy Lozano to 51 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of distribution of crack cocaine. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation GRIT Task Force. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Kolar.