Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

INDIANAPOLIS – Anthony Hughes, 37, of Indianapolis, was sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court documents, on January 29, 2020, Hughes was stopped in his vehicle by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) officers. Officers discovered a firearm inside a passenger’s purse, that Hughes admitted to possessing. Hughes is prohibited from possessing firearms due to multiple prior felony convictions, including criminal recklessness, stemming from a domestic assault where he bit a victim in the jaw and threatened her with a knife. When the victim’s minor son intervened, Hughes choked the child. Hughes was also previously convicted of misdemeanor domestic battery for repeatedly punching a victim in the face and choking her. Hughes also has a 2009 domestic battery conviction for assaulting his minor son. 

Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Randal Taylor made the announcement.

The IMPD investigated the case. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives provided valuable assistance. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon. As part of the sentence, Judge Hanlon ordered that Hughes be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years following his release from federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Abhishek S. Kambli 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.

Additionally, this case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.

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