Tyrone M Wright, Felon in Possession of Firearm, IN 2024

Fort Wayne’s Tyrone M. Wright, 41, is headed to federal prison for 180 months after pleading guilty to illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. The sentence, handed down by Chief Judge Theresa L. Springmann, marks the latest chapter in a long criminal history that flagged Wright for the harshest penalties under federal law.

On March 25, 2015, Wright was found in possession of a firearm—despite being legally barred from owning one due to prior felony convictions. Court documents confirm he had no business near a weapon, let alone in control of one. That single act triggered a mandatory 15-year minimum sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act, reserved for the most dangerous repeat offenders.

Wright’s past sealed his fate. Convicted of serious drug offenses and violent felonies in Allen County Superior Court on September 24, 2007, and January 3, 2001, and again in St. Joseph County Superior Court on February 10, 1994, his record is a textbook profile for federal escalation. Three strikes—each a violent or drug-related felony—locked in the stiffest mandatory sentence available.

The case was built through a joint operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Fort Wayne Police Department, and the FWPD Vice and Narcotics Division. Their collaboration turned up evidence that left no doubt: Wright was armed, aware, and ineligible to possess a weapon under any circumstance.

Prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tina L. Nommay and David E. Hollar, who pushed for full enforcement of sentencing guidelines. U.S. Attorney Thomas L. Kirsch II confirmed the outcome, emphasizing that armed felons won’t be given leniency in northern Indiana’s federal courts.

Wright will serve 180 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release. His name now stands as a warning: in the eyes of federal law, a violent criminal with a gun earns no second chances.