Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
East Chicago Man Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison
For Being a Felon in Possession of Firearms
HAMMOND- Ernest Willis, 25, of East Chicago, Indiana, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge James T. Moody after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms, announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.
Willis was sentenced to 33 months in prison followed by 1 year of supervised release.
According to documents in the case, in November 2020, Willis possessed two firearms after having been previously convicted of a felony. Both firearms were loaded, and one of the firearms had a high-capacity magazine. Willis has prior felony convictions for robbery.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the East Chicago Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin F. Wolff.
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