INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — A former Muncie man — this week termed a “menace to the people of East Central Indiana” by U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers — has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison.
Barry J. Willis Jr., 49, more recently of Anderson, had pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis to unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
In April 2022, three months after Willis had been released on parole from the state prison system, ATF agents went to Willis’ Anderson home to serve search warrants after authorities received reports he was both dealing drugs and in possession of a firearm.
Willis barricaded himself in his home’s attic and refused to surrender, leading to a four-hour standoff. A SWAT team was called in and “deployed chemical agents a K-9” to force him outside, according to a press release.
In the house investigators found a loaded 9mm handgun under a bed. Willis’ DNA was found on the firearm’s trigger guard and magazine, and a bullet, the release said.
Because of his criminal history — including convictions for burglary, dealing in meth, intimidation, resisting law enforcement and theft — Willis is prohibited from possessing firearms.
While a Muncie resident in 2003, Willis pleaded guilty to burglary and was sentenced to 11 years in prison by then-Delaware Circuit Court 3 Judge Robert Barnet Jr.
Willis admitted to breaking into a neighbor’s home along Hutchison Avenue. He had also been accused of stealing 18 air conditioner units from a storage building belonging to a westside nursing home.
“For decades, this defendant has been a menace to the people of East Central Indiana,” Myers said in Thursday’s release. “Prior convictions and prison sentences here have not seemed to alter his utter disrespect from the law and public safety.
“The sentence imposed here demonstrates the serious consequences awaiting repeat, violent felons who continue to illegally possess firearms.”
The U.S. attorney noted Willis has an Aryan Brotherhood tattoo and has been “previously established as a member of the violent, white supremacist group.”
Willis was sentenced recently by U.S. District Court Judge James Sweeney, who ruled the ex-Muncie man would be on supervised release for three years after completing his prison term.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
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