Local man federally indicted, faces prison sentence

Bloomington man Thomas Owings, 30, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after being convicted of gun and drug charges when he reportedly attempted to rob a Bloomington residence of narcotics in 2011.

The prosecution involves four other individuals who were charged for the same crime in January, according to a press release.

The Bloomington Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will lead a collaborative investigation.

“Working together with the Bloomington Police Department and our federal partners, we are sending a powerful message that there is no place in this community for lawlessness and violence,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Joseph Hogsett said in the release.

Owings and the four others, Dennis English, 25, Courtney Pickett, 27, Andre Patterson, 31, and Lyssa Aliano, 20, were all charged in conspiring to possess, with the intent to distribute, at least five kilograms of cocaine, according to the release.

The attempt was botched by authorities, and the robbery was unsuccessful.
So far, Owings is the only suspect who has entered a guilty plea, Hogsett said.

“(The suspects) were essentially in conspiracy with one another to break into a Bloomington property they believed contained large amounts of narcotics,” he said Thursday at a press conference at BPD.

The rest of the suspects await trial.

— Michael Majchrowicz