Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

SOUTH BEND – United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, David Capp, announced that Erik D. Harbin, age 30, of Mishawaka, Indiana was sentenced on Monday, November 23, 2015, in federal court by Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr., after his guilty plea of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to documents in the case, on March 17, 2015, the Mishawaka Police Department received a 911 call from a citizen reporting what appeared to be an armed kidnapping of a female in Mishawaka, Indiana.  Mishawaka Police, while responding to the area of the call, located a vehicle matching the description of the vehicle given by the caller and observed two people in the front seat and a female passenger in the rear seat.  The police conducted a felony stop on the vehicle.  After identifying the passengers in the vehicle, a victim was identified along with the driver of the vehicle and Harbin.  While being escorted to the police vehicle for questioning, Harbin yelled to the driver, “Don’t let them search the car.”  The driver gave police consent to search and the police recovered a .380 caliber firearm which was in the location where Harbin was sitting.  The victim had reported that Harbin had been carrying a firearm in the weeks prior to this incident.
 
Harbin was sentenced to 117 months imprisonment and 3 years supervised release.  Harbin’s lengthy criminal history was a factor to him being sentenced close to the maximum statutory sentence of 120 months for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in coordination with the Mishawaka Police Department.  The case was handled by the Assistant United States Attorney Jesse M. Barrett.
 

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