Coatesville man, 49, gets maximum sentence for illegal firearms operation

A 49-year-old Coatesville man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal firearms charges, U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Hogsett announced.

Jackie Richardson was sentenced Tuesday on one count of unlawfully possessing a machine gun and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

"Never in the three and one half years that I have served as the United States attorney have we prosecuted a felony possession case more egregious and dangerous as this," Hogsett said Tuesday. "The danger posed by the presence of an illegal gun-manufacturing operation to the citizens of Hendricks County is unacceptably disconcerting."

Richardson was arrested by Hendricks County Sheriff's Department (HCSD) deputies on Dec. 17, 2011 following a 911 call reporting a domestic violence incident at Richardson's Coatesville residence.

Responding deputies uncovered evidence of an illegal firearms manufacturing operation and contacted the ATF, Hogsett noted.

During a joint search of Richardson's property, ATF agents and HCSD deputies recovered approximately 175 firearms along with more than 59,000 rounds of ammunition and various firearms parts. ATF experts at the Firearms Technology Branch in Martinsburg, W Va., later determined that 35 of the recovered firearms were fully automatic machine guns.

At the time of his arrest, Richardson was prohibited by federal law from possessing any firearms or ammunition by virtue of his multiple prior felony convictions, including convictions in Indiana state court for felony battery and theft in January and April 1998, respectively, and a prior felony conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in March 1999.

Prior to being prosecuted for the most recent federal violations, Richardson had been convicted in Hendricks Superior Court of felony intimidation stemming from a December 2011 domestic violence incident.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Rinka, who prosecuted this case for the government, said Richardson faces three years of supervised release following his sentence.

Richardson's prosecution comes as part of the U.S. Attorney's Violent Crime Initiative (VCI), and is the result of a collaborative investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Hendricks County Sheriff's Department.

Announced in March 2011, the Violent Crime Initiative represents a district-wide strategy to work with local law enforcement and county prosecutors to combat drug traffickers and criminals that use and carry firearms in their illegal activities.

The VCI has produced a dramatic increase in the number of gun-related charges brought federally. In the year preceding the initiative, there were just 14 defendants charged with federal gun crimes by the U.S. Attorney's Office. In the nearly three years since, more than 314 defendants have been charged.

"Through our Violent Crime Initiative, and in working with our law enforcement partners here in central Indiana, we're sending a united message that illegally-armed felons will face the full force of federal law," Hogsett noted. "Prior to the initiative, this office prosecuted one gun crime a month, now we are aggressively prosecuting more than two per week.