INDIANAPOLIS — On Tuesday, Mayor Joe Hogsett, United States Attorney Zachary Myers and IMPD Chief Randall Taylor held a meeting to highlight the upcoming addition of three Special Assistant United States Attorney (SAUSA) positions to help crack down on violent crimes in Indiana.
The job of the three new hires will be to identify, investigate and prosecute violent crimes in Marion County at the federal level.
“With federal authority, these attorneys can help bring federal-sized consequences down onto those who are responsible for selling and using the illicit guns that fuel so much of Indy’s violence,” said Mayor Hogsett. “In effect, this can choke out the access points where criminals buy their firearms, further reducing the rate of violent crime in our city.”
By adding the positions, violent criminal will face further investigation on federal levels.
In particular, the attorney's caseloads will focus on serious federal violent crimes, repeat violent offenders, violations of federal firearms statutes (particularly the illegal funneling of firearms into the hands of criminals), and unlawful use of the emerging firearms technologies that accelerate the danger of gun violence to the public.
“Federal prosecution of the drivers of violence has an important impact in our community,” said U.S. Attorney Myers. “This partnership will allow us to expand our office’s work to investigate and prosecute violent criminals, gun traffickers, and illegally armed individuals who pose the greatest risk to our neighbors.”
One of those neighbors is Tom Ellis. The 84 year is still cracking jokes with his family.
“I turned 84 two weeks last Friday, they had birthday party for me,” Tom said. Tom’s family says he was robbed over the weekend.
“They could have killed him,” Andy Ellis, Tom’s son said.
In the video provided by Tom's family, you can see multiple people get out of a van. They say Tom was confronted. Tom tried to fight back and then the group got away. They believe the people were armed. A police report states he was robbed of $2,000.
It's still too early to tell if Tom's incident rises to a federal crime but police are investigating.
"I was ashamed embarrassed – if they needed money I would have given it to them," Tom said.
The SAUSA's will be hired by the City’s Office of Corporation Counsel and then detailed to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana. The attorneys will be full-time employees of the City of Indianapolis and will report to the Corporation Counsel.
Funding for the positions was approved unanimously by the City-County Council on July 10.
Applicants can apply here.
