Hamilton Man Sentenced to 84 Months in Prison
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — David L. Westfall, 44 years old, of Angola and Hamilton, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Holly A. Brady upon his plea of guilty to illegally possessing an unregistered sawed-off shotgun and for possession of a firearm by a felon, announced U.S. Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.
Westfall was sentenced to 84 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release.
According to documents in the case, on Feb. 19, officers responded to a rural area east of New Haven, regarding a suspicious occupied vehicle. When Officers arrived, they located Westfall who had active warrants for his arrest. They attempted to detain Westfall, but he retreated to his vehicle, indicating he had a firearm. Westfall then fired a shotgun, shattering the driver’s window of his truck. Officers called the Allen County SWAT team for assistance, and the officers eventually convinced Westfall to surrender after a standoff of at least 10 hours.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with assistance of the Allen County Sheriff’s Department, the New Haven Police Department, the Woodburn Police Department, the Allen County Sheriff’s Department Special Weapons and Tactics Team and the Fort Wayne Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony W. Geller.
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 gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department of Justice launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities and measuring the results.
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