LAFAYETTE, La. - Acting United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that two men from South Louisiana have been sentenced by United States District Judge Robert R. Summerhays.
Deondrick W. Brown, 26, of New Iberia, Louisiana, was sentenced to 120 months in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release for drug trafficking. On June 12, 2020, Louisiana State Police Troopers conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle being driven by Brown. Law enforcement officers detected a smell of marijuana coming from the vehicle and a K-9 positively alerted to the presence of narcotics. A search of the vehicle produced several bags of multi-colored pills/tablets suspected to be MDMA (ecstasy), with a total weight of 6.5 kilograms. The seized narcotics were sent to the DEA lab for testing and analysis. The analysis confirmed that the 6.5 kilograms of seized narcotics amounted to 46,089 individual pills/tablets containing methamphetamine. Brown was arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and pleaded guilty to the charge on June 30, 2021.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Louisiana State Police conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Danny Siefker prosecuted the case.
In an unrelated case, Jordan Leon Huntsberry, 30, of Abbeville, Louisiana, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release. Huntsberry was charged with making counterfeit United States money and pled guilty to the charge in June 2021. According to information presented to the court at the guilty plea hearing, while investigating a possible firearm-related crime on South College Road in Lafayette on July 25, 2020, officers with the Lafayette Police Department knocked on the door of Huntsberry’s residence. Officers were permitted to enter the apartment and observed in plain view several wet Federal Reserve Notes that appeared to be counterfeit, as well as a printer in the living area of the residence. A search warrant was obtained, and officers conducted a full search of the residence and found 467 suspected counterfeit Federal Reserve Notes of various denominations. Some of the notes were already cut and some were on printed sheets. Officers also located a printer, laptop computer, and other equipment used in counterfeiting. The seized Federal Reserve Notes were analyzed by a Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service and determined to be counterfeited notes.
The U.S. Secret Service and Lafayette Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig R. Bordelon prosecuted the case.