United States Attorney David Capp announced Wednesday another major incident in his office’s ongoing federal-local law enforcement effort focused on violent crime in Northwest Indiana.

According to a press release sent by the U.S. Attorney’s office on Wednesday, an indictment named four defendants who are alleged, in various combinations, to have committed 15 armed robberies in East Chicago, Gary, Hammond and Merrillville over the past 10 months: Nathan Elmore, 21, of Gary; Lavelle Hatley, 17, of Gary; Jeremiah Stevenson, 22, of Gary; and Seandell Rounds, 20, of Riverdale, Ill.

Rounds was involved in a robbery at a Subway in Gary in July; Hatley was involved in robberies at a Subway in Gary in June and a Domino’s Pizza in October; Elmore was involved in a robbery at Rally’s in Gary in January; Elmore and Hatley were both involved in robberies at a Rally’s in Gary in September, a Family Dollar in Gary twice in October, a Church’s Chicken in Gary in October, a KFC in Gary in November, and an Auto Zone in Gary in January; Elmore and Stevenson were both involved in robberies at a Game Stop in Hammond in January and Tech Credit Union in February; Hatley and Rounds were both involved in a robbery at Auto Zone in Merrillville in February; and Elmore, Hatley and Stevenson were all three together involved in a robbery at Auto Zone in Hammond in February.

Each robbery also carries one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of, during and in relation to the robberies.

All have been in custody since February and will be arraigned before Magistrate Judge Andrew Rodovich on May 18.

The indictment was the result of a cooperative law enforcement effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the East Chicago and Gary police departments, the Hammond Police Department and the Merrillville Police Department.

“We will continue to work in partnership with our police departments to focus federal resources on alleged violent offenders,” stated Capp. “Our objective is to remove these offenders from the streets. Once arrested, we will seek to hold them with no bond. These four defendants have all been ordered held without bond. If convicted of the charges, we will seek substantial federal sentences to keep these violent offenders off the streets.”

“Persons in Northwest Indiana who are involved in criminal gangs or other violent crime need to understand that we are focusing our efforts on them and, when appropriate, we will bring the full weight of the federal criminal system on them,” Capp said.

The case has been assigned to and will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Dean Lanter and Jennifer Chang-Adiga.

The United States Attorney’s office emphasized that an indictment is merely an allegation and that all persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.

If convicted, any specific sentence to be imposed will be determined by the judge after a consideration of federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.