Date: May 13, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
HAMMOND — Roger Lee Ervin Burton, of Merrillville, Indiana, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Philip P. Simon after pleading guilty to a racketeering conspiracy announced Acting United States Attorney Tina L. Nommay.
Burton was sentenced to 180 months in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release.
According to the Second Superseding Indictment, the Sin City Deciples, originally formed in 1967 in Gary, Indiana, is an outlaw motorcycle organization in which its members and associates engaged in acts of violence, extortion, and narcotics distribution in the Northern District of Indiana and elsewhere.
Burton served as a National Board Member of the entire club and was described by informants as one of the top three leaders in the criminal organization.
The agencies involved in this prosecution were: the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the East Chicago Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Gary Police Department, the Griffith Police Department, the Hammond Police Department, the Lake County Sheriff’s Department, Indiana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area officers and agents, the Merrillville Police Department, the Munster Police Department, and the Schererville Police Department. Also aiding were the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Arkansas, the Northern District of Illinois, the Southern District of Indiana, the Western District of Kentucky, and the Western District of Pennsylvania.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David J. Nozick, Michael J. Toth, and former Assistant United States Attorney Kimberly L. Schultz.
This case was part of an investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multiagency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
This case was also 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 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.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.