Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Gary Man Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison
For Possession of a Firearm as a Felon
HAMMOND- Israel Wiggins, 25, of Gary, Indiana was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Phillip P. Simon after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm as a Felon, announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.
Wiggins was sentenced to 46 months in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release.
According to documents in the case, Wiggins was arrested for an unrelated warrant in Merrillville, Indiana. At the time of his arrest, he was carrying a .40 caliber firearm with an extended magazine. Wiggins had a prior conviction in Lake County Superior Court for the felony offense of Auto Theft, making him ineligible to legally possess a firearm.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the United States Marshals Service’s Great Lakes Fugitive Task Force. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Caitlin M. Padula.
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.
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