Law and Order Lake County

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Updated: January 17, 2012 6:18PM

East Chicago

Armed robber for pizza pleads

Lake Superior Court Judge Diane Ross Boswell sentenced an East Chicago man to three years for theft and a handgun violation.

Alante Green, 19, admitted he stole a pizza from a delivery man on May 13 as he was walking in the 4900 block of Ivy Street. Green was carrying a loaded .40-caliber pistol at the time.

The plea agreement outlined a one-year sentence for carrying a handgun without a license and two years for theft. Boswell sentenced Green to serve two years in the Lake County Community Corrections program, followed by one year on probation, and ordered him to pay $25 in restitution to Genova’s Pizza.

A robbery charge punishable by a maximum 20-year sentence was dismissed.

Gary

Merrillville man sentenced for burglary

Lake Superior Court Judge Diane Ross Boswell sentenced a Merrillville man to three years for burglary.

Kevin Maurice Carter, 30, admitted he broke into a garage in the 4700 block of West 41st Avenue, Gary, and stole two lawn mowers, duct work and a furnace.

Carter will serve his sentence in Lake County Community Corrections, with initial placement in the Kimbrough Work Program.

A separate burglary case was dismissed under terms of his plea agreement.

Crown Point

Valpo teen found with drugs in car

A routine traffic stop turned up a car full of drugs and has resulted in numerous charges against an 18-year-old Valparaiso man.

The stop occurred Saturday just after midnight in the area of Joliet Street and Indiana Avenue. When Officer Mike Smulski approached the vehicle he noticed three plastic zipper bags containing marijuana in plain view on the back seat.

Upon inventorying the vehicle police also found psychotropic mushrooms, MDMA/Ecstasy pills, a glass marijuana pipe, digital scale, grinder and two bottles of whiskey.

The driver, Martin J. Kay, was charged with two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana less than 30 grams, possession of drug paraphernalia and illegal possession of alcohol by a minor.

Merrillville

More charges for robbing elderly

Two Chicago men have been charged with burglary, robbery, criminal confinement and misdemeanor interference with reporting a crime in a home invasion that targeted two Merrillville sisters in their 80s.

Tony Ely, 23, and Anthony Miller, 39, are charged in the Nov. 23 robbery in the 1500 block of West 54th Avenue. An 88-year-old woman was outside doing yard work when a man she later identified as Ely walked up and said he needed to cut down trees on the edge of the property line. As she walked into the back door and locked it, she found two men already inside the home. The men said they were “special police with the Gary police” and were looking for drugs, then began ransacking the home.

The woman’s 90-year-old sister told police a man came inside her bedroom, started talking about trees on the edge of the property line and then forced her into the living room and told her to sit next to her sister.

The younger woman tried to use her cell phone and one of the men took it from her, then cut the house phone line.

The charges are punishable by a maximum 20-year sentence.

Ely, Miller and Sandy Ely, 40, also of Chicago, have been charged in a series of home invasions that have targeted elderly residents in Northwest Indiana.

Miller has a hearing Wednesday before Lake Superior Court Judge Salvador Vasquez in which the prosecutor’s office will seek an increase in the standard bail for the felony charges.