Week in Review—Hammond

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

Complaint:

• Nathan Demar Huey-Dingle, 31, of South Bend, Indiana, was charged by complaint with sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion and transporting across state lines for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. 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 has been assigned to and will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jill Koster.

Dispositions:

• Michael Hostetler, 29, of Portage, Indiana, was sentenced by District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen to 96 months’ imprisonment, $2000 in restitution to each of two victims, a $5000 fine, and 20 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offenses of receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography. According to documents filed by the government in this case, a Michigan City Police Department officer using a computer connected to the Internet launched a publicly available peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing program from his office in the Michigan City Police Department. The officer browsed the shared directories and was able to download at least three images that depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The IP address was identified as belonging to Hostetler. A search warrant was obtained authorizing a search of Hostetler’s residence where law enforcement found videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct saved to a laptop computer belonging to Hostetler. This case resulted from an investigation by members of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Michigan City Police Department, and the Indiana State Police. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jill Koster.
• Jose Zambrano, 33, of Chicago, Illinois, a defendant in the case U.S. v Vargas et al., was sentenced by Senior District Judge Rudy Lozano to 240 months’ imprisonment and five years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity. Zambrano, a member of the Latin Kings street gang, conspired to conduct and participate in the conduct of the enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity consisting of multiple acts involving murder, robbery, and narcotics trafficking. This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); the National Gang Targeting, Enforcement, and Coordination Center (GangTECC); the National Gang Intelligence Center; the Chicago Police Department; the Griffith Police Department; the Hammond Police Department; the Highland Police Department; the Lake County (Indiana) HIDTA; and the Houston (Texas) Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Joseph Cooley of the Department of Justice Criminal Division, Gang Unit, and Assistant United States Attorney David Nozick.