Fort Wayne, Indiana - The United States Attorney’s Office announced the following activity in Federal Court:
DISPOSITIONS
* Joseph R. Topp, 21, of Angola, Indiana was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment with 5 years supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of distribution of material involving sexual exploitation of minors. According to documents filed in this case, a law enforcement agent, working in an undercover capacity, signed into an online publically available network via a file sharing program. The federal agent proceeded to browse shared directories and observed several video files being shared. Several of the titles were indicative of child pornography. During the course of the investigation, the federal agent utilized a program in order to identify the location of the user. A search warrant was executed that led to an interview of Topp, who admitted to using P2P (Peer to Peer) file sharing programs for several year. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Crime Task Force. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lesley J. Miller Lowery.
* Deandre Banks, 24, of Fort Wayne, Indiana was sentenced to time served for term of imprisonment with 3 years supervised release and to pay $87,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to the felony offense of bank fraud. According to documents filed in this case, an investigation conducted by the Internal Revenue Service revealed that from in or about July 2013 to in or about August 2013, Banks executed a scheme to commit bank fraud. This case was the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lovita Morris-King.
* James B Nelson, 32, of Fort Wayne, Indiana was sentenced to 108 months imprisonment with 2 years supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of possession with intent to distribute lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ethylenedioxymethamphetaime and ketamine. According to documents filed in this case, law enforcement agencies were alerted to Nelson using postal services to ship drugs nationwide. After a search warrant was issued, Nelson’s residence was searched and items recovered included a hydraulic pill press, controlled substances, mailing labels and $123,647.00 in cash. This case was the result of an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, United States Postal Inspection Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Fort Wayne Police Department, Indiana State Police and the Allen County Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tina Nommay.
* Brandon S Keister, 22, of Russell, Kentucky was sentenced to 33 months imprisonment with 2 years supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of stealing a firearm from a licensed dealer. According to documents filed in this case, in September 2012, a bait and tackle gun shop was burglarized. Keister broke into the shop and stole 23 handguns. This case was the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Steuben County Sheriff’s Department and the Kendallville Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tina Nommay.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
