Northern District Court in Hammond

Guns sold in Indiana used in violent crimes in Illinois

Contributed By:The 411 News

That there are more guns than people in the U.S. is half true according to Politifact’s Factcheck. What’s not disputed is 39 percent of the estimated 265 million guns were owned by 8 percent of the gun owners.

One of those owners of multiple guns, Darryl Ivery Jr., a northwest Indiana resident, was recently indicted for violating federal firearms laws.

His numerous purchases were flagged by a new initiative of the U.S. Dept. of Justice. Operation Legend launched in Chicago on July 22, 2020, in response to the city facing increased homicide and non-fatal shooting rates.

Ivery was charged on Aug. 26, 2020, in the Northern District Court of Indiana, with making a material false statement in the acquisition of a firearm.

According to the charging document, during the course of an ATF investigation into straw purchasers – individuals who lie on ATF Form 4473 about their status as legal purchasers of firearms – Ivery became a person of interest based on a large number of firearms he had purchased, some of which had been recovered by law enforcement.

Operation Legend is named after four-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed on June 29th in Kansas City, Missouri, while asleep in his home.

Ivery purchased a minimum of twenty-six firearms from January 7, 2019 to August 10, 2020, and 7 of these firearms have been recovered by various law enforcement agencies. One was recovered by law enforcement in Midlothian, Illinois, 5 days after being purchased.

When asked about his firearms purchases and recoveries, Ivery told law enforcement that with the exception of one firearm all of the firearms that he had purchased had been for individuals he had met and resided in Chicago, Illinois. Ivery told law enforcement that these individuals asked him to buy firearms for them as he could do so easier as a resident of Indiana, and they paid him in cash for every purchase he made.

Law enforcement showed Ivery copies of the ATF Form 4473 which he completed for the firearm purchases. Ivery acknowledged that it was his signature on the forms, and that he had been deceitful when answering “Yes” to the question that he was the intended user, but he was actually purchasing the firearms for other people.

Ivery was arrested on September 1 and was released the next day on a $20,000 bond.

Operation Legend is a coordinated law enforcement initiative across all federal law enforcement agencies working in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight violent crime in cities across America that were experiencing an uptick in violence.

“This case demonstrates my office’s commitment to partnering with our neighbors in Chicago to aggressively prosecute those who illegally supply guns to criminals in Indiana and Illinois,” said Thomas L. Kirsch II, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana. “My office is committed to reducing gun violence, and the state line will not save criminals from federal investigations and prosecutions.”

Story Posted:09/18/2020