United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Alfred A. Cooke, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Merrillville, Indiana, and Acting U.S. Attorney M. Scott Proctor for the Northern District of Indiana announced that Kevin Ellis, 41, of Mishawaka, Indiana, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Cristal C. Brisco after pleading guilty to being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine, and marijuana.

Ellis was sentenced to 72 months in prison followed by four years of supervised release.

According to documents in the case, police conducted a traffic stop on a car that Ellis was driving and found a loaded gun with a large capacity magazine, fentanyl pills, methamphetamine pills, marijuana, and a digital scale. Police then executed a search warrant on Ellis’s house in Mishawaka and found more fentanyl and methamphetamine pills. Ellis was a felon and was therefore prohibited from possessing a firearm. His criminal history includes a prior federal firearms conviction. 

"Kevin Ellis admitted that he illegally possessed a gun,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Proctor.  “He also admitted that he possessed, and planned to distribute, some of the most dangerous drugs available.  His case shows that those exposing the citizens of this District to such dangers will suffer the consequences.  I thank all the public servants involved in this case for bringing it to a just end.”

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the DEA, with assistance from the Mishawaka Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lydia T. Lucius.