Week in Review—Hammond

HAMMOND, IN—The United States Attorney’s Office announced the following:

Pleas:

■Hector Tovalin, Jr., 36, of Hammond, Indiana, pled guilty before Senior Judge James T. Moody to the felony offense of possession of child pornography. These charges were filed as the result of an investigation by members of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jill Koster.

■Linda Lyrla, 57, of DeMotte, Indiana, pled guilty before Senior Judge James T. Moody to the felony offenses of mail fraud and tax evasion. These charges were filed as the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Bell.

■Terrance Young, 49, of Valparaiso, Indiana, pled guilty before Judge Rudy Lozano to the felony offense of receipt of child pornography. These charges were filed as the result of an investigation by members of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including ICE-Homeland Security Investigations. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jil Koster.

■Armando Ortega, 33, of Hammond, Indiana, pled guilty before Judge Rudy Lozano to the felony offense of possession with the intent to distribute cocaine. Sentencing has been set for October 2, 2012. These charges were filed as the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives HIDTA Task Force. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Nozick.

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:

■Gary James, 54, of Marisa, Illinois, was sentenced by Judge Rudy Lozano to five months’ imprisonment and one year of supervised release, to include five months of home supervision, and $42,127.08 in restitution after pleading guilty to the felony offense of wire fraud. James participated in a scheme to defraud Bechtel SAIC Company LLC and to obtain money and property by false pretenses. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jacqueline Jacobs and Susan Collins.

■Troy Lively, 43, of Westville, Indiana, was sentenced by Judge Rudy Lozano to 110 months’ imprisonment, restitution of $5014, and two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of the bank robbery of DeMotte State Bank. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicholas Padilla.

■Desanka Henrichs, 60, of Lake Station, Indiana, was sentenced by Senior Judge James T. Moody to 15 months’ imprisonment and one year of supervised release after pleading guilty to the felony offense of mailing threatening communications in a scheme to extort money from individuals by threat to injure their reputations by telling the general public that they had, or were having, extramarital affairs. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Nozick.