Source: (PHOTO: Timothy Clary/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS — The U.S. Attorney’s Office Announced on Thursday that 15 people were charged in a federal indictment after planning to straw purchase dozens of firearms from licensed dealers in the Central Indiana area.
All 15 were charged with at least one count of making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm. Those charged include;
– Daylen Bell, 24, Indianapolis
– Jaylyn Lamont Crenshaw, 25, Indianapolis
– Michaela Evan Day, 27, Indianapolis
– Michael Glen Day, 23, Indianapolis
– Davone Trae Eans, 24, Indianapolis
– Kendall Rayshaun Ezell, 21, Indianapolis
– Anthony Keith Jones, 24, Indianapolis
– Isiah Thomas Keller, 21, Greenfield
– Anthony James Morst, 24, Indianapolis
– Caleb Morris Redman, 23, Indianapolis
– Jordan Devon Ross, 24, Gary
– Derrion Wisdom Scruggs, 23, Unknown
– Michael Coreal Stubbs, 22, Indianapolis
– Demetrius Andre Young, 24, Indianapolis
– Jalen Charles Zimmerman, 23, Indianapolis
Court documents say that from November 2020 to April 2022 Keller, Stubbs, Ezell, Michael Day, and Jones all offered to pay straw purchasers to buy firearms from Central Indiana Gun dealers. This tactic is commonly referred to as straw purchasing and it is when a person claims to be buying a gun for themselves when it is actually meant for someone else, often someone who is legally prohibited from owning a firearm.
Keller, Stubbs, Ezell, Michael Day, and Jones would then take the guns that were purchased and transport them to be re-sold somewhere else. If convicted, each defendant charged faces up to ten years in federal prison.
