News Release [print-friendly version]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2007
Contact: Michael A. Sanders
New Orleans PIO
(504) 840-1070

Traffic Stop Nets One Arrest, Six Kilos of Cocaine

JAN 22 -- New Orleans, Louisiana – William J. Renton, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration New Orleans Field Division, Daniel H. Edwards, Sheriff, Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, and Jim Letten, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, today announced that on Thursday, January 18, 2007, SERGIO VILLEGAS was arrested on federal drug charges subsequent to a traffic stop on Interstate 12 in Hammond, Louisiana.

On Thursday, January 18, 2007, a Tangipahoa Parish Deputy Sheriff, during his contact with VILLEGAS, made several observations and requested permission to search the defendants’ vehicle. Upon receiving that permission, DEA Special Agents conducted a K-9 search of the vehicle and discovered six (6) kilograms of cocaine concealed in the door panels of the truck.

Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Boitmann is prosecuting this case on behalf of the United Stated Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The public is reminded that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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