Domestic Abuser and Repeat Felon Sentenced to 51 Months in Federal Prison for Illegally Possessing Firearm
INDIANAPOLIS – Delvarez Long, 38, of Indianapolis, was sentenced to 51 Months in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to documents and evidence presented in court, in March 2021 law enforcement officers learned there was an outstanding warrant to arrest Long for domestic battery. Long was also wanted for questioning in a homicide. Long was located by detectives on April 2, 2021, at a hotel on east 21st Street, in Indianapolis. Investigators saw Long exit the hotel with a firearm in his waistband and get into a vehicle. Long was taken into custody. Detectives recovered the gun from Long and determined that it had been reported as stolen.
Long was subsequently charged with violations of Indiana law in state court and released on bond pending trial. After he was released on bond, Long was arrested and charged with felony intimidation in June of 2021 after he threatened to “body” or kill a woman with what appeared to be a handgun.
At the time he possessed the gun in April 2021, Long was legally prohibited from possessing firearms because he had been previously convicted of multiple felonies, including a 2016 conviction for battery resulting in bodily injury to a pregnant woman, after his violent assault on the mother of his child.
Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana; Daryl S. McCormick, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Columbus Field Division; and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) Chief Randal Taylor made the announcement.
ATF and IMPD investigated the case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt. As part of the sentence, Judge Pratt ordered that Long be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years following his release from federal prison.
U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelsey Massa who prosecuted this case.
This case was brought as part of the LEATH Initiative (Law Enforcement Action to Halt Domestic Violence), named in honor of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) Officer Breann Leath, who was killed in the line of duty while responding to a domestic disturbance call. A partnership among the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the IMPD, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana, the LEATH Initiative focuses federal, state, and local law enforcement resources on domestic violence offenders who illegally possess firearms.
Additionally, this case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.
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