Department of Justice

HAMMOND- Matthew Burton, 20 years old, of Hammond, Indiana, was sentenced by United States District Court Chief Judge Jon E. DeGuilio on his plea of guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.

Burton was sentenced to 24 months in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release.

According to documents in the case, on May 17, 2021, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Burton and recovered a firearm from under the front passenger seat which he possessed. Burton’s criminal history revealed he had a prior felony conviction for robbery, and as such, is prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition.   

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives/ Indiana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force with the assistance of the East Chicago Police Department.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael J. Toth.        

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.

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