Week in Review—South Bend

SOUTH BEND, IN—The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that:

Pleas

David Nowak, 68, of South Bend, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Christopher Nuechterlein to the felony offense of possession of child pornography.

The investigation began when Nowak took his computer into a local business for repair work. In the process of working on the computer, an employee of the business noticed what he believed to be pornographic images of girls who were underage. The employee further observed a large amount of data in various folders containing the same sort of material. Law enforcement was contacted and pursuant to a search warrant, a forensic search was conducted which uncovered approximately 576 images and 22 videos depicting child pornography.

Sentencing has been set for 4/19/12.

This case resulted from an investigation by members of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Maciejczyk.

Patrick R. Oszuscik, 28, of Trail Creek, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Christopher Nuechterlein to the felony offense of distribution of child pornography. The investigation began in February 2011when law enforcement conducted an online Internet investigation to identify those possessing and sharing child pornography using a peer-to-peer file-sharing program. Based on this investigation, law enforcement was able to identify an IP address associated with Oszuscik’s residence. A federal search warrant was subsequently obtained and executed at the residence, where law enforcement found numerous videos and images which contained child pornography.

Sentencing has been set for 4/27/12.

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 and the Broward County, Florida Police Department. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Maciejczyk.

The Nowak and Oszuscik cases were 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.

Andy Mitchell, 31, of Mitchell, Indiana, pled guilty before Magistrate Judge Christopher Nuechterlein to the felony offense of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine in the case U.S. v Beard et al. Sentencing has been set for 4/20/12. These charges were filed as the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Indiana State Police and the Plymouth Police Department. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank Schaffer.

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.

Dispositions

Douglas Dimos, 38, of Elkhart, Indiana, was sentenced by Judge Robert Miller, Jr. to 51 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Dimos has prior convictions for fleeing police in a vehicle and operating while intoxicated in 2005. This case was the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Donald Schmid.

Rogelio Rodriquez-Villegas, 38, of Elkhart, Indiana, was sentenced by Judge Robert Miller, Jr. to one year of probation including six months of home detention after pleading guilty to the felony offense of misuse of a Social Security number. This case was the result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Custom Office of Homeland Security Investigations. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Barbara Brook.

George Bradford, 39, of South Bend, Indiana, was sentenced by Judge Robert Miller, Jr. to 21 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of use of a communication facility to distribute MDMA. This case was the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank Schaffer.