Tag: narcotics

Metairie man nabbed in heroin distribution case convicted of narcotics, firearms offenses

A Metairie man who sold heroin to an undercover informant in New Orleans during a multi-jurisdictional investigation that led to Jefferson Parish was convicted Thursday night (Jan. 19) of possessing and distributing the illegal narcotic and of illegally possessing four firearms.

Julius Hankton, 27, is guilty of possession with intent to distribute heroin, possession of oxycodone and four counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated for 40 minutes before unanimously convicting him as charged of all counts. Judge Donnie Rowan of the 24th Judicial District Court set Hankton’s sentencing for Feb. 17.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation New Orleans Violent Crime Task Force investigated Hankton beginning in 2014, using an undercover informant to purchase small quantities of heroin on four occasions, according to testimony. The task force comprises members of the FBI and local law enforcement agencies, including the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Louisiana State Police.

Hankton, who lived in New Orleans when the investigation began, moved into an apartment with his girlfriend in the 1600 block of Clearview Parkway. As such, task force members obtained a warrant from a Jefferson Parish magistrate commissioner to search the apartment.

About 6 a.m., on March 19, 2015, FBI SWAT members and sheriff’s deputies served the warrant, surprising Hankton, his 4-year-old son and his girlfriend as they slept.

During the search agents found more than 21 grams of heroin, eight tablets of oxycodone and the firearms. They also seized more than $20,000 in cash.

The firearms included a fully loaded 9mm pistol with extended magazine, which was set on a dresser, a 10mm pistol on the floor next to his bed, a .45-caliber pistol found in the dresser drawer and a fully loaded AK-47 assault rifle in a duffle bag under the bed.

Hankton is barred from possessing firearms because of his prior convictions in New Orleans of aggravated battery, possession of cocaine, carrying a firearm while in possession of a controlled dangerous substance and illegal possession of stolen firearms.

Hankton, who did not testify, denied the crimes. His attorneys argued there was no evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the drugs and guns belonged to him.

Assistant District Attorneys Andrew DeCoste and Douglas Rushton prosecuted the case.

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New Orleans man convicted of marijuana distribution from Gretna hotel

A New Orleans East man was convicted as charged in Jefferson Parish Thursday night (Nov. 18) of possession with intent to distribute the 149 grams of marijuana he left behind in a Gretna motel room earlier this year.

Raymond Allen, 28, rented a room in the 100 block of the Westbank Expressway for one night on May 5, 2016. The following morning, he left the hotel to run errands, planning to return to his room before the 11 a.m. check-out time.

He was unable to make it back in time. A housekeeper who was cleaning the room discovered the marijuana and notified the hotel management, which in turn called the Gretna Police Department.

Allen returned to the hotel about 12:30 p.m., that day, planning to ask the manager if he could obtain his belongings. Instead, he was greeted by police officers who were investigating the marijuana.

“Y’all are here because of the weed in my room,” Allen told the officers, admitting later that he was in the process of selling marijuana to help himself financially. Officers also found more than $900 in cash in his pocket during the arrest.

The officers found five sandwich bags stuffed with marijuana in a plastic grocery bag that was set atop the room’s dresser. The officers also found paraphernalia associated with marijuana distribution.

Testifying during the daylong trial on Thursday, Allen denied the charges, saying he purchased the marijuana in bulk to save money, and that he bought it only for personal use. He said he lived with his mother in eastern New Orleans at the time and so he rented the Gretna motel room to have private time with his girlfriend and not as a location from which he would sell marijuana.

A 12-member Jefferson Parish jury deliberated about 40 minutes before returning with its verdict just before 10 p.m. Allen faces a punishment of five years to 30 years in prison, with the benefit of probation, parole or suspended sentence.

Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Allen on Dec. 1. It is within the judge’s discretion to suspend the imposition of the sentence and place the subject on probation.

Assistant District Attorneys Michael Smith and Angel Manzanares prosecuted the case.

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Bentel brothers sentenced to prison in synthetic narcotics distribution ring

A pair of brothers who ran parallel but separate drug distribution operations, including the largest synthetic narcotics distribution ring in Jefferson Parish that controlled all synthetic marijuana sales in East Jefferson for a period of time, began lengthy prison sentences on Monday (Oct. 3).

Henry Bentel, 35, of Metairie, was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Ronald Bentel, 36, of Folsom, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The crimes to which they pleaded guilty last month originate from their actions during a 2 ½-year period ending in July 2012. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office opened investigations into the Bentels, and into an unrelated synthetic narcotics operation based on the West Bank, after receiving reports that several people overdosed from ingesting the substances the Bentel organization and others manufactured and distributed.

The synthetic narcotics were sold in more than 90 locations in Jefferson Parish when the Sheriff’s Office investigation began, including The Rob Shop, a business belonging to the Bentels. Investigators seized more than $800,000 in cash from the Bentel organization upon arresting various suspects. Today, there are no such locations selling the products.

They were part of a criminal enterprise that imported chemicals from Canada and China to manufacture synthetic marijuana they named POW, which they sold through The Rob Shop and other retail outlets in Jefferson Parish.

Members of the enterprise manufactured the illegal substances in houses they rented in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. At the peak of their operation, the members manufactured about 300 pounds of their product every week. They sold POW for $10 per gram, or $20 for three grams.

Henry Bentel pleaded guilty on Sept. 12 to conspiracy to distribute controlled dangerous substances, three counts of distribution of cyclpropanoylindoles, one count of possession with intent to distribute cathinones, possession with intent to distribute naphtholyindoles, obstruction of justice and cruelty to juveniles. The cruelty charge stems from his allowing a juvenile to be present while he distributed a controlled dangerous substance.

Ronald Bentel pleaded guilty on Sept. 26, to racketeering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, two counts of money laundering over $20,000 and conspiracy to distribute a controlled dangerous substance.

Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court accepted the guilty pleas and handed down the sentences.

Assistant District Attorney Doug Freese prosecuted the cases.

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New Orleans man convicted of possessing, distributing heroin

A New Orleans man who already served prison time for illegal narcotics was convicted Wednesday night (Sept. 14) of being a heroin dealer in connection with the 50 grams of the narcotic that deputies found during the investigation, most of it stashed in the Metairie motel room he shared with his then-girlfriend.

Clarence Dixon, 34, was convicted by a Jefferson Parish jury of possession with intent to distribute heroin and of attempted possession of cocaine. Judge Donnie Rowan of the 24th Judicial District Court plans to sentence Dixon in October.

Dixon and his then-girlfriend, Jenny Montecino, 34, of Metairie, were arrested on Jan. 23, 2015, when about 9:15 p.m., they were pulled over in a traffic stop in the 6500 block of Airline Drive. Two reserve Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies initiated the stop after noticing the license plate registration had expired for the couple’s 2001 Nissan Pathfinder, according to testimony.

Dixon and Montecino had active attachments for their arrests and were taken into custody. Montecino, who also was driving without insurance and with an expired driver’s license, readily admitted she had .8 grams of cocaine and five grams of heroin stashed in her underwear, reserve Deputy Salvador Provenzano testified.

Following the traffic stop, Montecino immediately said the narcotics belonged to Dixon, the father of her child. She testified that Dixon ordered her to “stuff it” in her underwear about 15 minutes before they were pulled over, as she drove him to make a drug transaction.

“He didn’t want to hold them (the illegal narcotics) because of the repercussions of his background,” she testified Wednesday. “He didn’t want to get into trouble.”

She testified that she didn’t want to take the blame for his narcotics, either. “I didn’t want to get in trouble,” Montecino testified. “It wasn’t mine.”

During the traffic stop, Provenzano noticed Dixon in the front passenger seat, furtively handling a large amount of cash that he stuffed in a purse in the center console, he testified.

The investigation lead the detectives to the couple’s motel room in the 5700 block of Airline Drive, where the couple acquired a room in Montecino’s name about six weeks earlier, according to testimony.

The detectives found a digital scale, two bottles of room sanitizer the deputies said could be used to cut or dilute narcotics and Dixon’s identification card. They found 44.9 grams of heroin in a red plastic container on a shelf in the closet, Detective Nicholas Buttone testified.

Pursuant to a court order, the detectives seized $2,568 in currency as proceeds from illegal narcotics sales, in dominations ranging from $100, $50, $20, $10, $5 and $1 bills, Buttone testified.

Montecino pleaded guilty on Oct. 15 to simple possession of heroin and conspiracy to distribute cocaine. She testified against Dixon, per her plea agreement, and faces a punishment ranging from probation up to 15 years in prison. She will receive her sentence next month.

She testified that she feared Dixon, and that he purchased the Pathfinder from a man she identified only as “Jason.” The vehicle was registered to a Pineville, La., woman whom she did not know, and she also testified that she drove Dixon to conduct his narcotics transactions.

Dixon’s attorney argued that the narcotics belonged to Montecino, whom he said falsely blamed her boyfriend to save herself.

Dixon pleaded guilty to similar offenses – possession of heroin and possession of cocaine – in the 24th Judicial District Court in March 2010 and received a 5-year prison sentence, records show. Those convictions stem from his June 2009 arrest, after deputies found .8 grams of heroin and 4.7 grams of crack cocaine in a Shrewsbury Court residence.

Assistant District Attorneys Andrew DeCoste and Douglas Rushton prosecuted the case.

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Jefferson Parish prosecutors in Harvey Hustlers cases receive top FBI awards

Two Jefferson Parish prosecutors who are working with the joint local and federal task force that dismantled the notorious Harvey Hustlers gang, sending dozens of extremely violent drug dealers to prison for as long as 120 years, received 2016 FBI Director’s Awards for their ongoing work in the case.

Assistant District Attorneys Doug Freese and Seth Shute were among the New Orleans-area local and federal law enforcement officials to receive the award in the Outstanding Criminal Investigation category on Thursday (Sept. 15) from FBI Director James Comey, during a ceremony in Washington D.C.

Members of the FBI New Orleans Gang Task Force, which initiated the investigation seven years ago, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office also were named to receive the awards.

The Director’s Awards, considered to be among the most prestigious accolades within the FBI, are given annually to Bureau employees and others to recognize their exemplary contributions and service to their communities. This year’s recipients include men and women who investigated deadly terrorist and cyber attacks, designed innovative technology and training and provided exceptional service to colleagues and victims of crime, according to the FBI.

Read the FBI New Orleans announcement here.

Considered the scourge of some West Bank neighborhoods, the Harvey Hustlers traces its roots to the 1980s in the Scotsdale subdivision, from where a core group of members oversaw a narcotics distribution ring. The gang enlisted affiliates from other West Bank neighborhoods to help import the narcotics into Jefferson Parish from as far as Texas and to distribute it in the area.

The Harvey Hustlers had an enforcement arm known as the Murder Squad, which used violence to protect its illegal activities. Numerous homicides were tied to the gang, including those of an 81-year-old Bridge City woman and a 58-year-old Marrero man, neither of whom was the intended target.

The FBI New Orleans Gang Task Force and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office initiated the investigation in 2009, leading to more than 65 criminal indictments in state and federal courts. Since the investigation began, Jefferson Parish saw a 39-percent decrease in its homicide rate through 2015, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office collaborated in deciding the jurisdiction in which the cases would be prosecuted, depending on whether federal or state law could provide the more appropriate punishment.

Convictions in Jefferson Parish’s 24th Judicial District Court in Gretna, and U.S. District Court in New Orleans, led to sentences ranging from five years to life in prison. The state and federal charges ranged from heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine distribution, racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, firearms offenses, homicide and murder-in-aid of racketeering.

In the Jefferson Parish, Freese and Shute prosecuted more than 30 Harvey Hustlers and their affiliates. Of them, 21 defendants were charged last year by a state grand jury in a sweeping 30-count racketeering and conspiracy case that includes a pending second-degree murder case.

Among them was Robert Williams, a Harvey Hustlers leader who was convicted at trial and sentenced in January to 120 years in prison. Each of the Harvey Hustlers who already had prior criminal convictions received no less than 20-year prison sentences in the Jefferson Parish cases.

This is the second time this year the Harvey Hustlers task force has been recognized. In February, New Orleans’ Metropolitan Crime Commission awarded the task force its 2016 Excellence in Law Enforcement Award.

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‘My brother trusted you,’ homicide victim’s sister tells convict at sentencing hearing

With a dozen members of her victim’s family and many of her own kin appearing in a Jefferson Parish courtroom, an eastern New Orleans woman was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday (Aug. 4), for orchestrating an armed robbery that ended with a fatal shooting two years ago.

Markeisha Lewis, 25, on Monday admitted to her role in the June 27, 2014, death of a man she knew, Demone Robinson, 24, whom she set up to be robbed of a pistol and Xanax pills in a meeting she arranged in the 1000 block of Inca Drive.

She pleaded guilty to manslaughter, conspiracy to possess Xanax and obstruction of justice. In accepting the plea, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court delayed the sentencing to Thursday, when three of Robinson’s family members provided impact testimony.

“You’re looking like you don’t care, but we care,” Robinson’s mother Letrina Robinson testified, speaking to the shackled Lewis sitting directly across the courtroom in the jury box. “You don’t know how much I loved my son. I fought to get you to this point where you are right now.”

Lewis and Robinson knew each other, the family members said. Yet she conceived the plan to rob him of his pistol and Xanax, according to court documents. Through a series of text messages, she set up the meeting in the 1000 block of Inca Drive in Harvey, near where Robinson lived.

“My brother trusted you, well enough for you to have his number,” his sister Ashley Robinson said in impact testimony. She thanked “those of you who brought justice for my brother.” And she called it “a senseless and poorly planned crime” that robbed the Robinson family of their loved one.

Lewis enlisted two teenagers, Raynell Whittaker, then 17, and Everis Hilton, then 16, to help carry out the plan, according to the court records. As she and Whittaker met with Robinson on the street, Lewis called out, “We about to get crunk,” her signal for the armed Hilton to commence the robbery, the records show.

Instead, Hilton emerged and opened fire, killing Robinson. Hilton later told Whittaker that Robinson was removing a pistol from his pants, leading to the shooting. “I had to. He was going to kill me,” according to court records.

Afterward, Lewis deleted the incriminating text messages from her phone and removed the firearms – actions that led to the obstruction of justice charge.

Family members said Robinson had four daughters. One of them was at their nearby home when her father left to meet with Lewis, the family members said. That daughter had been waiting for her father to return, they said.

Everis and Whittaker pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other offenses in July. Everis received a 40-year sentence, and Whittaker was sentenced to 30 years.

In addition to her testimony, Letrina Robinson prepared a statement that was read aloud by her sister, ArKemi Robinson. In it, she accused Lewis of not caring about Robinson’s family when she concocted and carried out the robbery.

“You were only worried about your mission being accomplished,” Letrina Robinson wrote. “Today, you’re sitting in this courtroom, in this box, facing Demone’s family, something you didn’t think would ever happen.”

She said she did not believe Lewis should ever “walk the streets” as a free person again. “We did get justice for my son, because that’s all that matters,” she wrote. She told Lewis to consider her parting thoughts while she’s being transported to a state prison to begin her 25-year sentence.

“While you’re riding, ask yourself: Was it worth it?” Letrina Robinson wrote. “Enjoy your years.”

After her testimony, Letrina Robinson returned to the courtroom gallery where her family sat and began sobbing. A family member carried her from the courtroom.

Just days before the homicide, Hilton and Whittaker robbed a man of his cell phone in New Orleans’ Irish Channel. They pleaded guilty in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court and were serving 10-year prison sentences for that crime when a Jefferson Parish grand jury handed up an indictment charging them in Robinson’s death.

Assistant District Attorneys Lindsay Truhe and Michael Smith prosecuted the case.

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New Orleans woman pleads guilty to role in Harvey homicide

An eastern New Orleans woman has pleaded guilty on to her role in the shooting death of a man in West Jefferson two years ago, bringing to three the number of people who’ve admitted guilt in the homicide.

Markeisha Lewis, 25, pleaded guilty Monday afternoon (Aug. 1) to manslaughter, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to possess Xanex in connection with the June 27, 2014 death of Demone Robinson of Harvey.

In accepting the negotiated plea agreement, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court  will sentence Lewis to 25 years in prison during a hearing set for 1:30 p.m., on Thursday.

Robinson, 24, was shot to death in the 1000 block of Inca Drive in Harvey, during an attempt to rob him of Xanax pills and his pistol. He died at the scene.

The shooter, Everis Hilton, 18, of New Orleans, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on July 12, and received a 40-year prison sentence. Hilton was 16 years old at the time of the offense.

The third participant, Raynell Whittaker, 19, of Harvey, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on June 10, in exchange for a 30-year prison sentence. Judge Faulkner handed down those sentences on July 18.

According to court records, Lewis had been romantically involved with Whittaker’s mother and conceived a plan to rob Robinson of a pistol under the guise of obtaining Xanex pills. She and Robinson communicated via text messages in arranging a meeting. She then told Hilton, “We going to savage D,” speaking in slang of robbing Robinson, according to court records.

The plan called for her and Whittaker to meet with Robinson for the purported narcotics transaction. She told Hilton that her signal to rob Robinson was her saying, “We going to get crunk,” court records show. Lewis and Whittaker then met with Robinson when she called out the signal phrase, leading Hilton to emerge saying “freeze,” court records show.

Robinson began to remove his pistol from his waistband, and Hilton began shooting, according to court records. Afterwards, Hilton explained to Whittaker his reason for opening fire: “I had to. He was going to kill me,” according to court records.

Lewis’ obstruction of justice charge stems from her orchestrating the removal of firearms in connection with the homicide investigation and eliminating evidence of the plan from her cellular phone. She was scheduled to stand trial this week on charges including second-degree murder.

Judge Faulkner will sentence Lewis to 25 years at hard labor for the manslaughter, 2 1/2 years for the conspiracy and 10 years for obstruction of justice. He will run the sentences concurrently, he said.

In pleading guilty on Monday, Lewis told the judge she lived in eastern New Orleans. In court records, her home address was given as the 1000 block of Inca Drive, which is near the homicide scene.

Her guilty plea comes a week after the Louisiana Supreme Court sided with Jefferson Parish prosecutors in their quest to use Lewis’ rap videos and lyrics as evidence against her during the trial. Lyrics describing a violent armed robbery tended to incriminate her in connection with Robinson’s death, prosecutors argued.

Just days before the homicide, Hilton and Whittaker robbed a man of his cell phone in New Orleans’ Irish Channel. They pleaded guilty in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court and were serving 10-year prison sentences for that crime when a Jefferson Parish grand jury handed up an indictment charging them in Robinson’s death.

Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Truhe and Michael Smith prosecuted the case.

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Harvey Hustlers gang associate pleads guilty to narcotics charges

A Harvey man with ties to the Harvey Hustlers street gang has pleaded guilty to narcotics trafficking offenses in exchange for a 12-year prison sentence.

Glendale A. Houston, 30, pleaded guilty as charged on Monday (July 25) to two counts of distribution of cocaine, possession of heroin and possession of methamphetamine, court records show.

Judge Conn Regan of the 24th Judicial District Court, who accepted the plea, sentenced Houston to 12 years in prison on each count and ran them concurrently.

Houston was arrested in connection with the local and federal investigation of the Harvey Hustlers, whose members and affiliates were responsible for the movement of illegal narcotics into the West Jefferson area.

The gang, whose roots date to the 1980s, originated in Harvey’s Scotsdale neighborhood and used violence and even homicide to protect its illegal activities. Several of Houston’s associates, including relatives, were prosecuted in U.S. District Court in New Orleans for their involvement in Harvey Hustler activities.

In Jefferson Parish, a grand jury handed up a two-count indictment on Feb. 25, charging Houston with distributing cocaine on two dates in March 2013, court records show. That prosecution concluded on Monday with his guilty pleas.

Houston separately pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and possession of heroin on Monday. Judge Regan sentenced Houston to 10 years in prison on each count, and ran them concurrently with each other and the 12-year sentence he received for the cocaine conviction.

That case stems from his Feb. 10 arrest in Harvey, where officers conducting a narcotics investigation attempted to stop the vehicle Houston was driving, according to the arrest report. Houston led the officers on a brief pursuit through a residential neighborhood.

When he stopped, he threw a large amount of currency to a woman and told her, “Take the money so the police can’t take it,” according to the report.

The officers got the $6,729, in denominations consistent with street-level narcotics sales, along with 2.9 grams of methamphetamine and .6 gram of heroin. He also had a small amount of marijuana, leading to a misdemeanor charge to which he pleaded guilty on Monday and received a 10-day jail sentence.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New Orleans Gang Task Force and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated the Harvey Hustlers. Assistant District Attorney Doug Freese handled the Houston case.

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Avondale man pleads guilty to possessing, distributing child pornography

A 20-year-old Avondale man was sentenced Tuesday (July 19) to 10 years in prison, after he admitted he possessed and distributed child pornography.

Taylor Bourgeois also will have to register as a sex offender for 25 years, beginning on the day he is released from prison, 24th Judicial District Court Judge Lee Faulkner ordered.

Bourgeois’ illegal activities came to light in February, when he was observed discussing in an online chatroom that he raped a 4-year-old girl. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children passed a tip about Bourgeois’ assertions to the Louisiana Attorney General’s Cyber Crime Unit, which, working with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, opened an investigation that led to Bourgeois’ home, according to the arrest report.

After obtaining a search warrant on March 7, state and Sheriff’s Office agents and members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force found a computer and two cellular devices in Bourgeois’ bedroom – along with six potted marijuana plants being grown in a cardboard box in his closet and bagged marijuana weighing 5.2 grams.

Bourgeois, who worked at an ice cream parlor in Westwego, confessed to downloading and possessing child pornography, which was stored on a cellular device, and to sharing several hundred images and videos through a file sharing website, according to the report.

Investigators uncovered images that included infants and girls under age 13 being raped by adult men, according to the report.

He pleaded guilty as charged Tuesday to three counts of possessing child pornography involving children under age 13, three counts of distributing child pornography involving children under age 13 and one count of possessing child pornography involving children between the ages of 13 and 17.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for each of the seven counts. Judge Faulkner ran them concurrently.

Bourgeois told agents that he purchased marijuana seeds about two months prior to his arrest and began growing them in the cardboard box he equipped with a light and fan, according to the arrest report. He also purchased marijuana that was recovered from his bedroom.

He also pleaded guilty Tuesday to two misdemeanor counts of marijuana possession. He received two 15-day sentences for those offenses, run concurrently with the 10-year sentences.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Smith prosecuted the case.

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‘I’m happy I testified against you,’ victim tells her attacker who gets 50-year sentence

A Metairie man who was convicted last month of shooting an Avondale woman during a home invasion two years ago was sentenced on Monday (July 18) to 50 years in prison.

Danny “Noonie” Saulny, 25, a former Avondale resident, shot the then-23-year-old woman at least 10 times, including once in the face, while he and a cohort forced their way into the home in the 100 block of Madeira Drive on Jan. 13, 2014.

The woman testified during the trial last month that she immediately recognized Saulny, whom she had known for years. The gunmen dragged her throughout the home, intent on robbery, before they opened fire, according to trial testimony. While she was shot at least 10 times, she had 15 bullet wounds, including one to her cheek that caused severe damage to her tongue.

In impact testimony on Monday, the victim told the court she was left in a coma following the attack, waking to find her jaw wired shut and facing enduring physical and emotional hardships. She still has a projectile and bullet fragments in her body.

Addressing him by his nickname Noonie, she said she did nothing to him to prompt the shooting.

“God kept me here for a reason, and I am happy I testified against you to get you off the street and keep you from harming anyone else,” she testified.

Saulny declined to make a statement. He was convicted as charged by a Jefferson Parish jury on June 23 of attempted second-degree murder, home invasion and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Judge Conn Regan of the 24th Judicial District Court, sentenced Saulny to the maximum 50 years for the attempted murder, 20 years for the firearm offense and 25 years for the home invasion. He ran the sentences concurrently.

“The court finds the victim in this matter was very fortunate to have survived this vicious attack by two people who entered her home and carried out this crime,” Judge Regan said in announcing the sentence.

Saulny was barred by law of possessing guns because of a conviction of possessing a firearm during a crime of violence, a crime involving an aggravated second-degree battery in 2010. He also has conviction of felony theft and resisting arrest from 2010.

Prosecutors announced during the sentencing hearing they intend to file a multiple bill charging Saulny as a habitual offender under Louisiana law.

The second gunman was never booked. In a pretrial hearing in Saulny’s case, the victim said she recognized the second gunman in the courtroom by a tattoo on his hand. Detectives questioned him, but prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence on which to base criminal charges, according to testimony.

Assistant District Attorneys Blair Constant and Lynn Schiffman prosecuted the case.

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