South Bend Man Sentenced to 444 Months’ Imprisonment

SOUTH BEND – United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, David Capp, announced that Ivan Brazier, 40, of South Bend, Indiana was sentenced before South Bend District Court Judge Robert Miller, Jr. for kidnapping and extortion.

Brazier was sentenced to 444 months’ imprisonment and 1 year supervised release.

According to documents filed in this case, Brazier and his codefendants possessed firearms as felons to unlawfully confine or kidnap an individual and demanded a ransom for that individual’s release.  A firearm was discharged, hitting the victim, during the kidnapping.  Two co-defendants, Lindani Mzembe and Derek Fields were convicted in separate trials of kidnapping, extortion, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and use of a firearm in a crime of violence.  Mzembe is scheduled to be sentenced on January 5, 2017, and Fields is scheduled to be sentenced on February 22, 2017.

This case was prosecuted as a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Federal Bureau of Investigation; South Bend Police Department and the St. Joseph County Metro Homicide.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys John M. Maciejczyk and Joel Gabrielse.