Hammond, Indiana - The United States Attorney’s Office announced the following activity in Federal Court:
PLEA
* Sammy Guerrero, 36, of Hammond, Indiana pled guilty to the felony offense of being a felon in possession of a firearm. This charge was filed as a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Sentencing has been set for 11/19/2014. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nick Padilla.
If convicted in court, any specific sentence to be imposed will be determined by the judge after a consideration of federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
DISPOSITIONS
* Dwayne Allen Jackson, 28, of Chicago, Illinois was sentenced to 1 year probation with 20 hours a week of community service if not working full time. Sentence is to be served consecutive to his 4 year imprisonment after pleading guilty to the felony offense of making a materially false statement. According to documents filed in this case, in August 2014, Jackson was driving a vehicle pulled over by law enforcement officers in relation to the vehicle being potentially stolen and Jackson’s connection with the passing of counterfeit money at local retail stores. This case was the result of an investigation by the Department of Treasury - Secret Service. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Randy Stewart.
* Lashon Sain, 50, of Merrillville, Indiana was sentenced to one year term of probation to be served on home detention with electronic monitoring after pleading guilty to the felony offense of aiding and abetting a monetary transaction involving criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000; the specified unlawful activity from which the monetary transaction derived was a conspiracy to distribute and distribution of marijuana and cocaine. According to documents filed in this case, Sain was convicted of aiding and abetting a money laundering crime for her part in a scheme to help convicted drug trafficker, Dwayne Crawford, purchase a $21,400 vehicle with drug proceeds and hide his purchase by using a nominee buyer. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Internal Revenue Service. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jacky Jacobs.
* Veronica Woods-Smith, 62, of Hammond, Indiana was sentenced to 5 months imprisonment, 2 years of supervised release and to pay $108,401.00 in restitution after pleading guilty to the felony offense of theft of government property. According to documents filed in this case, this defendant failed to notify the Social Security Administration of her husband’s death in January 2007 and from February 2007 through September 2013 her husband’s benefit funds that were deposited monthly into a joint bank account. Woods-Smith further admitted that she spent the money in various ways with the total amount of money she stole from the Social Security Administration being $108,401. This case was the result of an investigation by the Social Security Administration and the Office of the Inspector General. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nick Padilla.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
