Brothers Sentenced For Drug Conspiracy And Distribution

TONTA J.  OCTAVE,  age 34, and his brother KAVIS OCTAVE, age 31, both residents of Vacherie, Louisiana, were sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Lance M. Africk, announced U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente.  TONTA OCTAVE was sentenced to 120 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, followed by a term of 8 years supervised release.  TONTA OCTAVE will also be required to pay a special assessment fee of $200.  KAVIS OCTAVE was sentenced to 90 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons and a term of 4 years of supervised release.  KAVIS OCTAVE was ordered to pay a $400 special assessment fee.

In November 2012, the OCTAVE brothers were found guilty in four (4) counts of a five (5) count third superseding indictment for conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine base (“crack”) by a federal jury after a two-day trial.  Among other things, the jury heard testimony that on three separate occasions in March and May of 2012, KAVIS and TONTA OCTAVE, alone and/or working together, sold between one and two ounces of cocaine base (“crack”) to a Drug Enforcement Administration cooperating informant.  These drugs sales were captured on audio-video recordings.  In addition, at the time of TONTA OCTAVE’s arrest for these crimes, he was found attempting to flee his residence in a vehicle and had with him $25,747 in cash that had been kept in a freezer and was still ice cold.  That money was forfeited to the government as drug proceeds at the conclusion of the trial.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office, and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.  The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Sean Toomey and Andre Lagarde.