New Orleans Man Sentenced to Over 18 Years for Federal Drug Charges

NEW ORLEANS—John E. Bagent, age 38, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced to 225 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count in an indictment for conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine hydrochloride and more than 280 grams of cocaine base, or “crack,” by U.S. District Court Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten today.

According to court documents, Bagent conspired to sell with others at least 1.5 kilograms of crack cocaine and 10 kilograms of powdered cocaine from a time unknown but prior to February 2010 through September 2010 in and around Slidell, Louisisana. He specifically facilitated numerous sales of crack in varying amounts to an undercover law enforcement officer. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) applied for a court-authorized wire tap of Bagent’s phone and was able to record numerous phone calls between the defendant and his co-conspirators talking about drug transactions. A total of eight men were indicated by the United States, including Bagent, in January 2011 and to date, all have pleaded guilty.

In addition to incarceration, Bagent will be subject to 10 years of supervised release by the United States Probation Office after imprisonment, and he was ordered to pay a mandatory $100 special assessment.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office. It is was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorneys Edward J. Rivera and Sean Toomey.