DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Northern District of Indiana

For Immediate Release

Thursday, April 14, 2022
Clifford D. Johnson
, United States Attorney

East Chicago Man Sentenced to 21 Months in Prison for Being a Felon in Possession

HAMMOND- Marcus Wise, 26 years old, of East Chicago, Indiana, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Philip P. Simon on his plea of guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.

Wise was sentenced to 21 months in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release.

According to documents in the case, on August 8, 2020, Wise was stopped by law enforcement in East Chicago, Indiana. At the time, Wise possessed a loaded .380 caliber pistol with an  obliterated serial number, and had a prior felony conviction for burglary.       

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives/High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and the East Chicago Police Department.   This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Padilla.      

This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Chicago Field Division