20 More Defendants Indicted In Latest Federal Surge To Reduce Violent Crime In Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – United States Attorney Russell Coleman is marshalling federal resources in concert with state and local law enforcement partners to take violent offenders off the streets of Louisville; today he announced a federal grand jury seated in Louisville indicted 20 defendants with numerous counts of firearms violations.

This month’s federal indictments are in addition to the previous two rounds of 2019 indictments against Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) defendants, totaling 71 total PSN defendants this calendar year. Since the PSN surges began in Louisville in 2018 the United States Attorney’s Office has indicted 181 defendants. The charges continue to develop this year through an ongoing partnership between the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department (LMPD), the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms (ATF), the Office of Thomas B. Wine, Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney, and multiple other law enforcement partners to maximize penalties against the most violent repeat offenders as part of the Department of Justice’s PSN initiative.

“Violent trigger pullers must be removed from the streets of our city and Commonwealth,” said U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman. “These surges evidence a sense of urgency among law enforcement at all levels to do just that. Stay tuned; more to come.”

Defendants charged in the latest surge have previously been found guilty of numerous violent and drug crimes including: heroin trafficking, domestic violence, trafficking methamphetamine, robbery, possession of an unregistered machinegun, aggravated sexual battery, abduction, and failure to register as a sex offender.

If convicted at trial, the maximum sentence for unlawfully possessing a firearm is no more than ten years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.  If that firearm is possessed or used in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, a defendant faces a mandatory minimum five years in prison in addition to the sentence received for the underlying charges, and could receive up to life in prison.

These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ann Marie Blaylock, Tom Dyke, Larry Fentress, Alicia Gomez, Randy Ream, Erin McKenzie, Mac Shannon, David Weiser, Stephanie Zimdahl and Special Assistant United States Attorney Ebert Haegele Assistant Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney with assistance from Laura Stinson, Western District of Kentucky Grand Jury Coordinator. 

The cases are being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Louisville Metro Police Department, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The U.S. Attorney’s Office is partnering with federal, state, and local law enforcement to specifically identify criminals responsible for significant violent crime in the Western District of Kentucky.  A centerpiece of this effort is Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make neighborhoods safer for everyone.  Today’s indictments are part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative in the Western District of Kentucky.

The indictment of a person by a Grand Jury is an accusation only and that person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

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