New Orleans East Resident Sentenced to 17 Years for Drug and Gun Violations

U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that LEROY SMITH, age 33, of New Orleans East, was sentenced today after previously pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute 100 grams or more of acetyl fentanyl and 100 grams or more of heroin, and one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of his drug-trafficking activities.

U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle sentenced SMITH to 211 months of incarceration, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release.

According to court documents, in 2014 and 2015, SMITH and others engaged in a conspiracy to distribute acetyl fentanyl and heroin to over twenty different customers in the New Orleans area. SMITH worked with his coconspirators to order and receive packages of acetyl fentanyl from a source in China. In April 2015, law enforcement intercepted two packages of acetyl fentanyl that were mailed from the Chinese source to associates of SMITH in the New Orleans area. The packages contained a total of one-and-a-half kilograms of acetyl fentanyl, which SMITH planned to package and resell as “heroin” in the New Orleans area. At the time of his arrest on July 13, 2015, SMITH was in possession of heroin, drug paraphernalia, almost $3,000 in United States currency, and multiple loaded firearms.