Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

INDIANAPOLIS – Deandra Lee, 28, of Indianapolis, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

According to court documents, on July 1, 2021, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) responded to a domestic disturbance call at an Exxon gas station on East 21st Street involving Lee and a woman. Responding officers learned that there were active warrants for Lee’s arrest. Lee fled when officers attempted to arrest him and was apprehended a short time later. Officers located a loaded rifle in the backseat of the vehicle in which Lee was riding that Lee admitted to handling. As a convicted felon, Lee was legally prohibited from possessing any firearms.

Four months earlier, in March 2021, Lee was convicted in state court of domestic battery and strangulation of the same woman involved in the incident that led to his July 2021 arrest. Lee was also convicted of violating a no-contact order while the domestic violence case was pending.

Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana; Daryl S. McCormick, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Columbus Field Division; and IMPD Chief Randal Taylor made the announcement.

ATF and the IMPD investigated the case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge James R. Sweeney II. As part of the sentence, Judge Sweeney ordered that Lee be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years following his release from federal prison. Actual sentences are determined by a federal district court judge and are typically less than the maximum penalties.

U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Jayson W. McGrath who prosecuted this case.

This case was brought as part of the LEATH Initiative (Law Enforcement Action to Halt Domestic Violence), named in honor of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) Officer Breann Leath, who was killed in the line of duty while responding to a domestic disturbance call. A partnership among the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the IMPD, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana, the LEATH Initiative focuses federal, state, and local law enforcement resources on domestic violence offenders who illegally possess firearms.