Skip to main content
Press Release

New Orleans Man Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Selling Heroin, Including While Being Incarcerated in OPP

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana

U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that LIONEL THOMAS, age 30, of New Orleans, was sentenced today after previously pleading guilty to an Indictment charging him with violations of the Federal Controlled Substances Act.

U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt sentenced THOMAS to 264 months imprisonment, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release.

According to the court records, THOMAS conspired with others known and unknown to possess with the intent to distribute and to distribute one kilogram or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of heroin, a Scheduled I drug controlled substance.  THOMAS admitted to using the phone system while incarcerated at the Orleans Parish Prison, where all calls are recorded, to further his drug trafficking activities. Law enforcement officers also seized over $60,000 from THOMAS during various stops and searches in the fall of 2013. 

U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Special Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with assistance from Louisiana State Police and the New Orleans Police Department in investigating this matter.  Assistant United States Attorney David Haller was in charge of the prosecution.

Updated April 13, 2016

Topic
Drug Trafficking