HAMMOND- William Hawkins, 22, of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Philip P. Simon after pleading guilty to selling a firearm to a felon and being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.
Hawkins was sentenced to 78 months in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release.
According to documents in the case, on January 24, 2020, Hawkins sold a .380 caliber pistol to another individual whom Hawkins knew to be a felon. At that time, Hawkins himself had a prior felony conviction for dealing marijuana making his possession of the firearm illegal.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Gang Response Investigative Team (GRIT) and the Gary Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra McTague.
This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.