The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Authorities made arrests early Thursday as part of an investigation that yielded indictments against 21 people accused of dealing cocaine in southeast Louisiana and along the Mississippi coast.
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said an additional, separate indictment handed up Thursday charges a Texas man with attempting to transport 174 kilograms of cocaine -- with an estimated street value of $15 million -- from McAllen, Texas, to Atlanta.
The latter indictment, which stemmed from a routine traffic stop, was not connected to the multiple arrests and indictments in the other case -- an investigation that began in 2000 and centered on drug-related violent crime in New Orleans.
The 21 indictments in the older case involved a drug operation responsible for significant crack and cocaine trafficking from metropolitan New Orleans to Picayune, Miss., Letten said, and their arrests should help stem drug-related, violent crime in the area.
Murder has shot up in New Orleans in recent years, and police have said it is because of illegal drug activity, including turf wars by drug gangs. Police have responded by identifying “hot spots” where most of the crimes have occurred and increasing the police presence in those areas.
New Orleans police chief Eddie Compass said Thursday that drug suspects have since become more violent toward police.
“Our officers have been involved in more shootouts lately ... but we’re trained for that,” Compass said. “We’re not going anywhere. They are. ... They’re getting more desperate because we’re putting them out of business.”
By the time authorities had enough evidence to win indictments against the suspects named on Thursday, many had fled New Orleans proper and were operating out of suburban areas in St. Tammany Parish, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
The indictments date back to last week but remained sealed until Thursday so as not to compromise attempts to make some arrests, Letten said.
Four of the 21 people indicted remained at large Thursday afternoon and the public was encouraged to help authorities find them, said Louis Regal, special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans division.
They were identified as Derrick Chris Guyot, Rafael Sylve, Soron Salter and Tosh Humphrey. Their ages and last known addresses were not released, although Letten said most of the suspects in the case were between 21 and 30.
The other suspects named were: Christian Bickham, Jerome Vince, Ike Laurent, Byron Green, Simon Washington, Nigel Meyers, Michael Baham, Levi Melone, Sokoto Bullock, Damon Landor, Kendall Sanders, Chance Pichon, Tina Sanders, James Mitchell, Deanna Fairley, Alfred Thomas and Dedrick Jackson.
They are charged with a variety of drug possession, trafficking and firearms charges, some facing penalties as stiff as life in prison and fines of more than $1 million.
The suspect in the traffic stop, Michael Herman Cortez of Mercedes, Texas, was arrested last Friday night by state police troopers on Interstate 10 in St. Tammany Parish, authorities said.
Letten said he could not go into detail about whether Cortez, who was driving an tractor-trailer, did anything in particular to attract troopers’ attention. The drugs were in the trailer with regular cargo of mostly produce, Letten said.
“State police often do inspection stops on these vehicles,” Letten said. “They pulled this vehicle over for a legitimate inspection stop and during that inspection found the cocaine.”